By Keith Idec
January 10, 2022
Source: Boxing Scene
Photo: Boxing Scene
Edgar Berlanga’s recovery from biceps surgery has gone as planned, which will allow the unbeaten super middleweight to return to the ring as expected early in the spring.
BoxingScene.com has learned that a deal has been finalized for Berlanga to box Steve Rolls in a main event ESPN will televise March 19 from Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in New York. Toronto’s Rolls (21-1, 12 KOs) has been Berlanga’s targeted opponent since before the Brooklyn-bred banger’s subpar performance against Marcelo Coceres on the Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder undercard October 9 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Berlanga (18-0, 16 KOs) suffered a torn left biceps during the third round of the Coceres contest. Though that injury obviously hindered him offensively, Argentina’s Coceres (30-3-1, 16 KOs) also exposed some of Berlanga’s defensive flaws by landing numerous flush punches on him. In the ninth round, the gritty Cocerces connected with a counter right hand that knocked an off-balance Berlanga to the canvas for the first time as a pro.
Berlanga seemed more angry than hurt once Coceres knocked him flat on his back. The prideful Puerto Rican fighter quickly regained control of their 10-rounder and defeated Coceres by the same score, 96-93, on the cards of judges Eric Cheek, Patricia Morse Jarman and Ricardo Ocasio.
His victory over Coceres marked a second straight fight in which Berlanga went the distance. The 24-year-old Berlanga knocked out each of his first 16 pro opponents in the first round. The 37-year-old Rolls, meanwhile, has lost only to Gennadiy Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs). The hard-hitting IBF/IBO middleweight champion knocked out Rolls in the fourth round of their fight in June 2019 at Madison Square Garden.
Rolls most recently dominated Philadelphia’s Christopher Brooker (16-9, 6 KOs) on his way to a ninth-round, technical-knockout victory December 17 at Bell Centre in Montreal. If Berlanga beats Rolls, he likely will headline another card June 11 at Madison Square Garden, on the eve of the annual National Puerto Rican Day Parade in Manhattan.
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