NEW YORK – An island fight could be in the immediate future for Edgar Berlanga.
Conversation has surfaced of the unbeaten Nuyorican super middleweight headlining a show in Puerto Rico. In fact, it was in the cards for his first fight under his new promotional agreement with Matchroom Boxing before all involved parties landed on familiar ground in New York City. Berlanga outpointed Ireland’s Jason Quigley over twelve rounds in his third straight headliner at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater, mere minutes from his Brooklyn roots.
“We was talking about that earlier, trying to make a fight happen in Puerto Rico,” Berlanga told BoxingScene.com and other reporters after his most recent win.
The idea of truly representing his Boricua heritage is already back in play as plans are being made for his next fight which is eyed for October. The main priority—if only for the desire to secure a big name on his resume—is Tijuana’s Jame Munguia (42-0, 33KOs), who now campaigns at super middleweight.
Munguia’s second fight above middleweight and first as a full-blown 168-pounder came in a thrilling June 10 victory over Sergiy Derevyanchenko in Ontario, California. It came two weeks prior to the latest win posted by Berlanga (21-0, 16KOs), who made a point to call out the former titleholder to where such a showdown takes priority over the location for his next fight versus any other opponent.
“Listen, if the Munguia fight can land, if we can make it happen that’s the fight we want,” insisted Berlanga. “We gotta make it happen right now. It’s gotta happen this year. He’s a banger, I’m a banger. Puerto Rico versus Mexico.”
The same vision is shared by the Matchroom team with whom Berlanga signed earlier this spring.
“I do want to Edgar to fight in Puerto Rico,” acknowledged Matchroom Boxing head Eddie Hearn, “If we don’t get the Munguia fight next, maybe we figiht there as something different. But I do want to keep the momentum of what we started here (Saturday night).”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox