Edgar Berlanga Far From Impressive in Beating Angulo
In front of a boisterous crowd at the Madison Square Garden theater in New York City, Edgar “The Chosen One” Berlanga (20-0, 16 KOs) took on Roamer Angulo (27-3, 23 KOs) in a ten-round super middleweight contest.
Berlanga has become one of the more popular fighters in the Top Rank stable. Early in his career, the 25-year-old from Brooklyn, New York, was promoted as boxing’s latest sensation and the sport’s next great puncher after knocking out his first sixteen opponents.
However, as the level of competition has stepped up, some of the hype has tapered off. Berlanga was taken the distance in his previous three fights, including a lackluster decision win over Steve Rolls in his most recent bout in March 2022. Yet still, Berlanga has elevated himself enough to be ranked sixth by the WBO and eighth by the WBA at super middleweight.
He hoped to return to his destructive, power-punching ways against Angulo; a hardened and grizzled veteran. The 38-year-old from Colombia’s resume includes losses to former WBO champion Gilberto Ramirez and two-time WBC champ David Benavidez. Aggressive and hard-charging, Angulo was looking to take Berlanga into deep waters and push him beyond his limits.
OPTING TO BOX RATHER THAN BRAWL
Facing a guy who loves to apply pressure, Berlanga decided to step around and box in the early portion of the fight. He was using his jab to good effect. However, there were moments where Angulo left himself open, yet Berlanga seemed hesitant to let the combinations flow.
Round four was a good one for Angulo as he had Berlanga bleeding from the nose after landing a series of uppercuts. But the Brooklynite used his jab and legs to gain control in the sixth.
GETTING DIRTY
A strange development took place in the seventh. Replays of the fight showed after getting hit in a clinch, Berlanga responded by biting Angulo on the neck! Lucky for Berlanga, the referee missed that obvious foul, or he would have had a point taken away. That untidy moment aside, he continued to box and move Angulo down the stretch.
It was an easy fight to score as the judges ruled it for Berlanga by unanimous verdict (98-92, 99-91×2). Yes, Berlanga did more than enough to win. However, in the ring against an older fighter that was “made to order”, he again failed to show the explosiveness that marked his earlier fights.
This fight is further evidence that he has more work to do if he wants to accomplish his goal of becoming a world champion and boxing’s future Puerto Rican superstar.
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By: Michael Wilson Jr.
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