Edgar Berlanga generated the kind of buzz straight out of folklore to start his pro career.
Sixteen fights — 16 first-round knockouts, totaling 26 minutes and 33 seconds of absolute devastation. That means, you could’ve watched his entire pro library up until that point while taking a 30-minute walk, and still have about four minutes to spare.
It also means that Berlanga is one badd man.
Then came his 17 and 18 pro bouts and the Brooklyn fighter was brought back down to earth a bit, as he needed eight rounds to register a unanimous decision against Demond Nicholson last April and 10 rounds before producing the same result against a tough Marcelo Esteban Coceres in October. That tilt had Berlanga overcoming some turbulence as he got caught with a sneaky counter right and was dropped in the ninth round.
Those experiences under his belt now, Berlanga is set to make his debut as a headliner Saturday night when he takes on veteran Steve Rolls in a super middleweight matchup at Madison Square Garden. Entering the bout, the 24-year-old would like nothing more to lower the boom on Rolls and send his star power into orbit.
“This main event is going to look like I main-evented numerous times already,” Berlanga vows while speaking with DAZN News recently. “I’m that type of guy, I’m that type of a star and a future world champ.
“I just want to show everybody what I’m capable of doing not just in the ring but outside the ring — ticket sales — and showing the world that I’m a future star.”
He’ll certainly have the platform to punch that promise into existence this weekend. Not only is he making his main event debut live on ESPN from Madison Square Garden, but he’ll be led out to the ring by none other than Fat Joe, as Berlanga revealed to TMZ. The rap legend has been a fan of Berlanga’s for quite some time, frequently taking to his Instagram account and celebrating the puncher’s knockout power.
Joe even gifted Berlanga with a TS chain, representing the rapper’s famed Terror Squad crew.
“It’s a blessing in disguise,” says Berlanga about the love Fat Joe has shown him. “And also my hard work and all the knockouts that accumulated to now and I’m just happy to have that type of support system.
“Joe sees,” he adds about the rap heavyweight. “Fat Joe don’t mess with a lot of people in the music industry and sports, so when he sees something and he knows somebody is special the way that I am, he’s going to support him 100 percent.”
All that being said, Berlanga is fully anticipating a knockout victory — and one that puts his career on the trajectory to celestial heights.
“If that happens, which it will, a star is going to be born for real in New York,” Berlanga says about delivering a highlight KO. “Like for real, for real. I keep manifesting it, thinking about it. Playing it over and over in my head about what’s going to happen March 19.
“It’s going to be something spectacular,” he tacks on for good measure. “If everything goes according to plan with the way we’ve been working on things and I execute the game plan, man … sky is the limit.”
Berlanga believes a big win Saturday night could lead to a world championship shot soon thereafter.
“If everything goes well — no injuries or what not — then I got June 11, Puerto Rican Day (Parade) weekend,” says Berlanga, noting another big star-building stage for a fight. “I feel like those two fights will put me in line for a title or have negotiations with anyone who has a title if Canelo (Alvarez) vacates any titles.”
And just to be clear, Berlanga would be willing to take on anybody. He and David Benavidez have traded verbal jabs in the past and Berlanga is willing to throw hands with the former two-time WBC super middleweight champ.
“He’s young, he’s Mexican, so he has that Mexican fan base,” Berlanga begins saying about Benavidez. “That Mexican-Puerto Rico rivalry is something different. It’s something that the boxing world loves. When the time is right, the business is right, the money is right, we could definitely make something happen in the future.”
Until then, Berlanga has fireworks to set off … with building his own star power at stake.