It's officially 30 days away.
Edgar Berlanga vs. Hamzah Sheeraz, that is (
July 12 on DAZN).
This crossroads matchup comes in the middle of a red-hot summer with two more scheduled ring cards Aug. 16 (
Moses Itauma-Dillian Whyte) and, of course, Sept. 13 (
Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford).
If this one comes down to a trash-talking contest, there's no doubt who would be the winner. Sheeraz has no chance. Neither would Alvarez. Berlanga would already be undisputed at 168 pounds.
Shakur Stevenson (23-0, 11 KOs) and
William Zepeda (33-0, 27 KOs) will be the chief supporting bout for the WBC lightweight title.
In between all the F bombs he hurled by towards Sheeraz (21-0-1, 17 KOs) and his new trainer Andy Lee, Berlanga piled on the bravado.
"You already know what time it is. I'm knocking this [expletive] out," said
Berlanga, a Puerto Rican who was born and lives in Florida but claims this city with a large
Boricua population as his home, too. "We're in New York. This is my backyard."
Every time Sheeraz tried to make his point using calm, Berlanga pounced with over-the-top invective and derided him for getting a
controversial split draw in his last fight in February vs. Carlos Adames for the WBC middleweight title in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Sheeraz injured his hand early in the bout that may have compromised his performance. He thinks the move up 8 pounds also will help him.
In his only loss to super middleweight champion Alvarez, however, Berlanga cited being inexperienced and having an arm injury contributed to his lopsided decision loss last year.
The unknowns help make this matchup so intriguing:
- Is Berlanga as tough as he swears he is and was his arm injury actually a hindrance vs. Alvarez, or did he simply lose his nerve?
- Will he be better from the experience?
- Is Sheeraz's showing vs. Adames an aberration or an indication of the same, that when the moment gets larger he shrinks, too?
- Will he be better at a higher weight?
- Will Berlanga's emotions be an asset or a hindrance?
Berlanga wants credit for profane name-calling at Alvarez during their bout while being knocked down in the third round and losing 118-109 twice and 117-110 on the scorecards.
He almost demands it.
"I know I'm that dude. I know what I got," he said. "I got that charisma. I got that starpower. I look good. And I fight good."
There couldn't be a bigger contrast in styles. Sheeraz wears a suit with a pocket square and could easily be mistaken for a banker on Wall Street. Berlanga's ears are full of jewels and a tattoo is visible above collar.
They couldn't be more different in style, and that contrast also should produce a good fight.
Said Sheeraz: "In the U.K., we call him a sausage."