Edgar Berlanga and his team know the streak is going to end. And that’s perfectly fine with them.
The super middleweight contender has stopped all 16 of his opponents in the first round, a run that has created a palpable buzz around him. He has almost a quarter million followers and counting on Instagram.
In that sense, the streak has been valuable for Berlanga. But it has little meaning to him otherwise.
So, rest assured, if capable veteran Demond Nicholson takes Berlanga into the second round of a scheduled eight-rounders on the Emanuel Navarrete-Christopher Diaz card Saturday in Kissimmee, Fla. (ESPN, ESPN+), Berlanga won’t think twice about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTYfMaduugA
“I’ve been boxing for 16 years,” said Berlanga, who is 23. “… I had the most experience I could as an amateur and even just sparring and everything. For me to go to the second round … I know everybody is out to make it seem bigger than what it is … but it’s nothing that big.
“For me, it’s just another day in the office to go to the second round. … I’m sparring 10 rounds, 12 rounds with different guys to always put my conditioning at another level.”
Berlanga’s handlers understand the value of the streak and his growing legion of fans. However, their hearts won’t be broken if someone takes him beyond three minutes.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen on Saturday night. No one does until the bell rings,” said Carl Moretti, Top Rank’s Vice President of Boxing Operations. “He may go one round, he may go eight rounds.
“All that matters is he gets the win.”
Berlanga said he’s focused on Nicholson (23-3-1, 20 KOs), not what might lie ahead. All successful fighters take that approach to avoid disaster.
Moretti and Co. can and do look ahead. They’re building an attraction over an extended period of time. And Berlanga is doing his part both in his training camps – he essentially lives in the gym – and, of course, on fight night.
“As you can see he’s focused,” Moretti said. “He knows what’s at hand [on Saturday]. It’s the most important fight of his career because it’s the next fight in his career. Everything else doesn’t really matter.
“As long as he continues working his ass off in the gym, which he does, very good things take care of themselves. And that’s what we’re expecting Saturday night.”