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Berlanga only facing ‘C-level fighter’ Sheeraz to get second shot at Canelo
Edgar Berlanga, 23-1 (18), has labelled upcoming opponent Hamzah Sheeraz, 21-0-1 (17), as a ‘C-level’ fighter, stating that he is only fighting the Brit in order to get another shot at Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.
Berlanga and Sheeraz faced off for the first time ahead of their bout in New York City on Saturday, July 12, with the pair co-headlining alongside Shakur Stevenson and William Zepeda.
The clash will mark Sheeraz’s debut at super middleweight, a weight class Berlanga has operated at for the entirety of his career. Brooklyn-born Berlanga once challenged to become a world champion, losing via unanimous decision to WBO, WBC, and WBA belt holder Canelo Alvarez in September 2024.
When it was put to Berlanga that Sheeraz would be the second-toughest fighter he had faced as a professional by The Ring, the 27-year-old did not agree.
“I don’t think so. I think he’s a C-level fighter. I’m not taking him lightly,” Berlanga replied.
Berlanga earned notoriety when he began his career with 16 consecutive first-round knockouts, but the super middleweight felt that he had targeted tough fighters that he just happened to beat easily.
The Puerto Rican began: “If it was easy, everybody would be knocking people out in the first round. One thing is for sure, we never grabbed a guy who was selling oranges or working in Walmart. We grabbed legit fighters to try and get me rounds. Hey, I was going to knock them out.”
Organiser of the event, Turki Alalshikh, implied that the winner of Berlanga-Sheeraz would be in line to face Canelo after the Mexican superstar’s mega-clash with Terence Crawford.
During the press conference, Alalshikh shared: “This card will affect our next card. The eye of the result of Berlanga and Sheeraz is Canelo. This is a big card, an important card. This will affect boxing. Watching the result of Crawford and Canelo, Berlanga wants to put a very big statement on his first card with us.”
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