Edgar Berlanga beats Demond Nicholson but goes to the cards for the first time
Once again, Edgar “The Chosen One” Berlanga (17-0, 16 KO’s) kept his flawless record intact in another dominant performance. At the same time, his impressive streak of sixteen straight knockouts was finally brought to an end by Demond “D’Bestatit” Nicholson (23-4-1, 20 KO’s). Not only did Nicholson snap his first-round knockout streak, he took him all the way to the cards.
It was not entirely surprising that Nicholson took the Brooklyn sensation a number of rounds as he was slated to be his stiffest competition to date. Yet, it was surprising that he took him the distance. When looking at his resume, whenever D’Bestatit has fought more notable competition himself, he has typically come up short. This was the case when he locked horns with Steve Rolls and Jesse Hart. Like Nicholson, outside of his win over Sullivan Barrera, Hart lost his three biggest fights to Gilberto Ramirez, twice, and Joe Smith Jr. In fact, Nicholson struggled to defeat Mike Guy, who is far from the cream of the crop, in his last in-ring contest.
Despite losing his glossy first-round KO streak, it was good that Berlanga was able to get in some rounds. There is a great deal of hype surrounding the up and coming fighter and he is going to need such experiences if he is going to continue his upwards ascension in the sport. Musical celebrities such as Lil Wayne, Snoop Dog and especially Fat Joe have shown the young fighter a great deal of support. Yet, if he is to maintain this level of exposure and notoriety, he will have to both, keep winning and looking good. Tonight he won, but he did not look nearly as good as he had hoped.
TOUGHER THAN EXPECTED
The first round was rather uneventful as Berlanga ritualistically played ring aggressor and pursued Nicholson around the ring. For his part, Nicholson slid along the ropes and kept the Chosen One at bay with his jab. Berlanga came out fast in the second and even connected with a few thumping shots which Nicholson ate well.
Around the half-way point, Nicholson managed to land his own hard hooks which the Chosen One took well. In the final minute of the round however, after throwing a rather lazy jab, Berlanga sank his foe to the canvas with a hard left hook to the top of the head. D’Bestatit would make it out of the round but it would require a great deal of clinching and stumbling around to do so.
Nicholson visited the canvas again in the third. This time, a straight left and push did the trick. Although, replays would show that a knockdown was perhaps not the correct call. It should be noted that Nicholson was having some success with his jab and managed to split Berlanga’s bottom lip. For some odd reason, for large stretches of the fourth, D’Bestatit chose to languish on the ropes and give the Chosen One free opportunities to tee off on him. Yet, he was still able to land a number of solid hooks of his own on Berlanga, who ate them well.
Nicholson would be charged another knockdown in the opening moments of the fifth. While he never came off his feet, his hands did touch the canvas. Throughout the round, D’Bestatit continued the frustrating exercise of slinking along the ropes. Given how little that his opponent was doing, the Chosen One was not showing a great deal of versatility or adaptability to his game.
ALL GOOD THINGS END
In the final thirty seconds, Nicholson got hurt again and bent backwards over the top rope like a Flex Armstrong doll. After holding onto the ropes for support, he squeaked out the period without going down. Despite the shabby condition that D’Bestatit ended the previous round in, Berlanga did virtually nothing in the seventh. In fact, he appeared to be gassed and without any real answers of what to do next. The Chosen One was content to allow Nicholson to clinch and punch with his free hand for three minutes.
To open the final round, Berlanga actually had to show a beard of his own when he devoured a monster right hook. The middle part of the round was rather subdued until in the final thirty seconds when Berlanga dropped D’Bestatit yet again. This time, he put his tough foe on the canvas with a hard, flush right hook that landed perfectly on the chin. Like every other time he went down, Nicholson made it to his feet. As the ref was cleaning his gloves off to resume the action, the final bell brought the fight to an end.
Obviously, when the cards were read, the Chosen One won a unanimous decision win by a huge margin. It will be interesting to see what Berlanga does from here. While he maintained his flawless record, there is no question that his aura of invincibility has been completely shattered. Also, there is no denying that he can crack but given how many times Nicholson survived clean, repeated flush shots, his power will not hold the fear or awe that it once did.
By: Bakari Simpson
