[ad_1]
Gabe Rosado is excited to fight former middleweight world title challenger Edgar Berlanga next year in Puerto Rico.
Advertisements
New Yorker Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) and Rosado are both of Puerto Rican descent but were born in the United States. They are expected to fight on the island next in what would be a card promoted by Matchroom Boxing on DAZN.
The 19-year-old pro Rosado (26-17-1, 15 KOs) hasn’t won a fight in four years, since his shocking third-round knockout win over Bektemir Melikuziev on June 19, 2021.
Berlanga suffered his first professional loss, losing to unified 168-pound champion Canelo Alvarez on Sept. 14 in Las Vegas. For the most part it’s been pretty one-sided, but Berlanga, 27, has made it competitive with his enormous size. He had reportedly rehydrated 193 lbs after weighing 167 3/4 lbs.
This is a weight gain of 25.25 pounds after rehydration. Canelo dropped Berlanga in the third round but then appeared to take his foot off the gas instead of going for the knockout. Some people believe that Canelo brought Berlanga.
Advertisements
They felt Alvarez didn’t want to be criticized for knocking out the Brooklyn, New York native because he had already been ridiculed for picking him over more proven fighters like David Benavidez and David Morrell.
The scores
118-109
117-110
118-109
Fans would prefer Berlanga to fight a real contender rather than the 38-year-old Rosado for his next fight, but it would be too risky to put him with a top-15 player. Berlanga is already talking about getting a quick win and then fighting Jaime Munguia to get a rematch with Canelo.
It may take more than beating Rosado and Munguia for Berlanga to get a second fight against Alvarez, but you can’t blame him for at least wanting to try. Berlanga’s purse for that bout was $3 million, and he likely earned additional money from the PPV. It generated 650,000 reported purchases. These are excellent numbers.
“It’s a fight for me that’s a dream fight just because I’ve never fought in Puerto Rico,” Gabe Rosado told MillCity Boxing about him possibly fighting New Yorker Edgar Berlanga in 2025 in Puerto Rico. “I live in Puerto Rico for six months. I have a house out there. So I’m always there.
“I’m telling you, this is going to put a different battery in my back. You have the legends like Cotto, Tito [Trinidad, and Amanda Serrano out there. It’s so good for the sport. Puerto Rican boxing is getting back on the map, because you’ve got so much great talent now.
“You got Berlanga, and you got the vet, Gabe Rosado. To put us in PR, the island will love it. You’ve got two Boricuas from the States coming back to Puerto Rico,” said Rosado about him and Berlanga. “It would be history, It would be a dope event. There’s no real difference from being in Puerto Rico and being in Philly.”
Fans outside of the East Coast would prefer to see Berlanga fight someone a little younger than the 38-year-old Rosado next. Rosado’s 17 defeats make it difficult to take him and this fight seriously. This strengthens the argument that the former Top Rank-promoted Berlanga is just a manufactured hype job created to sell tickets in the New York area.
It would be more interesting for fans outside of the New York area if Berlanga fought one of these contenders next:
– Osleys Iglesias
– Caleb Plant
– Christian Mbilli
– Diego Pacheco
– Erik Bazinyan
– Bruno Surace
[ad_2]
Source link
Advertisements