Gabe Rosado is excited about possibly fighting Edgar Berlanga, the former super middleweight world title challenger, next year in Puerto Rico.
The New Yorker Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) and Rosado are both of Puerto Rican descent but were born in the U.S. They’re expected to fight next on the Island in what would be a Matchroom Boxing-promoted card on DAZN.
The 19-year professional Rosado (26-17-1, 15 KOs) hasn’t won a fight in four years since his upset third-round knockout win over Bektemir Melikuziev on June 19, 2021.
Berlanga suffered his first pro defeat, losing to unified 168-lb champion Canelo Alvarez on September 14th in Las Vegas. It was pretty one-sided for the most part, but Berlanga, 27, made it competitive with his huge size. He’d reportedly rehydrated to 193 lbs after weighing in at 167 3/4 lbs.
That’s a 25.25 lb weight gain after rehydrating. Canelo dropped Berlanga in the third round but then seemed to let his foot off the accelerator instead of going for the knockout. Some people believe Canelo carried Berlanga.
They felt Alvarez didn’t want to be criticized for knocking the Brooklyn, New York native out because he’d already been ridiculed for cherry-picking him over more proven fighters like David Benavidez and David Morrell.
The Scores
118-109
117-110
118-109
Fans would prefer that Berlanga fight an actual contender rather than the 38-year-old journeyman Rosado for his next fight, but it would be too risky to put him in with a top-15 guy. Berlanga is already talking about picking up a quick win and then fighting Jaime Munguia to get a rematch with Canelo.
It might take more than beating Rosado and Munguia for Berlanga to get a second fight against Alvarez, but you can’t blame him for wanting to try at least. Berlanga’s purse for that fight was $3 million, and he likely made additional money from the PPV. It generated a reported 650,000 buys. Those are excellent numbers.
“It’s a fight for me that’s a dream fight just because I never fought in Puerto Rico,” said Gabe Rosado to MillCity Boxing about him potentially fighting New Yorker Edgar Berlanga next in 2025 in Puerto Rico. “I live in Puerto Rico for half a year. I have a house out there. So, I’m always there.
“I’m telling you, that will put a different battery in my back. You got the legends like Cotto, Tito [Trinidad, and Amanda Serrano out there. It’s so good for the sport. Puerto Rican boxing is getting back on the map, because you’ve got so much great talent now.
“You got Berlanga, and you got the vet, Gabe Rosado. To put us in PR, the island will love it. You’ve got two Boricuas from the States coming back to Puerto Rico,” said Rosado about him and Berlanga. “It would be history, It would be a dope event. There’s no real difference from being in Puerto Rico and being in Philly.”
Fans outside of the East Coast would prefer to see Berlanga fight someone a little younger than the 38-year-old Rosado next. Rosado’s 17 defeats make it difficult to take him and this fight seriously. This strengthens the argument that the former Top Rank-promoted Berlanga is just a manufactured hype job created to sell tickets in the New York area.
It would be more interesting for fans outside of the New York area if Berlanga fought one of these contenders next:
– Osleys Iglesias
– Caleb Plant
– Christian Mbilli
– Diego Pacheco
– Erik Bazinyan
– Bruno Surace
