Game, set and match: Edgar Berlanga serves to keep super-middleweight dream alive against Hamzah Sheeraz

Amid all the hullabaloo and hysteria of a typically chaotic press conference, Edgar Berlanga still insisted he would have the last word against Hamzah Sheeraz this weekend.

The Chosen One is a man typically keen to put his money where his mouth is. Across his career, the super-middleweight superstar has built a reputation he frequently backs up.

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Twenty-four professional fights in, with almost as many wins and knockouts to his name, he is a marquee fighter that packs more than a few punches when he steps into the ring.

Berlanga does not miss when he throws them out of it too, as displayed in his near-fracas with Oscar De La Hoya this week in a stormy press conference filled with big antics.

Yet for all his peacock-chested displays and powerhouse posturing, there runs a fascinating undercurrent of trepidation and jeopardy that surrounds this latest bout for him too.

De La Hoya's sledge amid their verbal tete-a-tete hammers home the key blemish that marks Berlanga's record on the canvas so far - namely, his lack of a major world title belt.

Across two-dozen fights, the Brooklyn-born fighter has only been handed one shot at a crown in the division - his unified smackdown with Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez last September.

For a man who had never challenged for a key strap before, it marked a major step-up for him, a chance to not only fight a living legend, but prove he belonged on the same level.

It did not go the way he wanted. Canelo dropped Berlanga in the third round and though he ultimately recovered to go the distance, his points defeat was by a chastening margin.

Boxing is a funny old game. In almost any other sport, one loss does not carry the weight or significance that can alter careers. It is a cumulative pathway and process to results.

In a sense, this is too, but at the same time, there is little escaping the damage of a reverse in the ring, particularly a career-first in front of a global audience and boffo box-office.

It was small wonder that Berlanga vanished from view for several months, reemerging only in March to deal a first-round KO against Jonathan González Ortiz in a Florida hotel.

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Now, he is back under the bright lights of New York again - and yet, owing to a quirk of scheduling fate, finds himself on the other side of the East River from Manhattan's glitterati.

He co-headlines The Ring Magazine III's blockbuster card in Queens instead, denied a return to Madison Square Garden thanks to a concert by the singer "Weird Al" Yankovic.

Instead, he must serve up his latest ace against Sheeraz in the surroundings of Louis Armstrong Stadium, a tennis arena most readily associated for its role in the U.S. Open.

The Briton arrives with his own promising pedigree, though like his foe, his one attempt at securing a world title ended in failure - albeit with loss, after a draw with Carlos Adames.

What splits the pair on this court is their size however, with Sheeraz making the step up from middleweight to challenge in a new division, and on a new front for success too.

Questions as to whether Berlanga might maintain an advantage there have been seemingly put to rest by the weigh-in too, with both coming in at 167.6lbs each for their dance.

That only increases the stakes. This week, the Puerto Rican has talked up his hopes to take Canelo on once again, suggesting he is a better fighter now for that solo loss to him.

He may wish to ensure he beats the forehand his next foe will send screaming down the net however. Sheeraz has plenty to prove after underperforming expectations last time out.

That bout with Adames was meant to serve as a coronation of his talents, elevation to the status of world champion. Instead, many would argue he was fortunate to take a draw.

Sheeraz will be stung, and has kept his tongue throughout the five-ring circus this week, almost eclipsed by a slew of brash American figureheads jostling for the limelight.

Berlanga is chief among them, and his bravado will ensure all eyes are on him to deliver the goods, to set up another tilt at, if not Canelo, then perhaps an interim belt below him.

Defeat however will leave the landscape of his future in a very different place. A loss to the Mexican is not fatal to top-tier prospects, but a second to a rival contender could be.

In a division currently ruled by one man, and with a slew of top-tier contenders pushing to dethrone him, Berlanga has technically already had his chance to take a shot at gold.

At Louis Armstrong Stadium, he must throw down his best serve against Sheeraz to keep his super-middleweight dream alive. Lose this volley, and it's a long way back to the top.

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