Edgar Berlanga roasted promoter Eddie Hearn today, blaming him for not setting up a fight against IBF super middleweight champion William Scull that he believes would have led to him getting a quick rematch with Canelo Alvarez in September.
(Credit: Melina Pizano/Matchroom Boxing)
Sounding more like a businessman than a fighter, Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) says Hearn wanted to treat him like he’s his boss rather than his “business partner.” He says if Eddie was with him, he’d have negotiated a deal with Scull, who he feels he’d have easily beat, and then got the “bag” from Canelo in a quick rematch.
Berlanga is convinced that Canelo wants to fight him again so he can become a two-time undisputed champion. That’s hard to believe, but it’s understandable why he wants the rematch with the Mexican star. He got a massive $10 million payday fighting Canelo last September.
This Saturday, Berlanga will be fighting Jonathan Gonzalez-Ortiz in a 10-round super middleweight fight on the undercard of Austin ‘Ammo’ Williams vs. Patrice Volny on the Caribe Royale in Orlando, Florida.
The event will be shown live on DAZN. Edgar is NOT happy being on the undercard, and feels he should have been headlining his own card in Puerto Rico on March 8th, but he says Hearn told him that DAZN didn’t want to pay.
“I’m going to handle my business, wipe him out, take him out of here and focus on getting a big fight,’ said Edgar Berlanga to Fighthype, talking about his opponent for Saturday, Jonathon Gonzalez-Ortiz in Orlando. “What I’m going to do to him, I’m going to do to Plant, Munguia, and Pacheco. I’m going to slaughter them.
“I know that my name is big enough to make any fight happen, and I don’t need to be tied into no promoter trying to control me. I’m a boss,” said Berlanga about why he’s leaving Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom after this final fight of his contract against Gonzalez-Ortiz this Saturday night.
At the end of the interview, Berlanga invited TV networks and other promoters to begin contacting him after his contract with Matchroom ends on Saturday night so he can sign with them and be business partners. However, he’s never won a world title, and his best career win is against Padraig McCrory. Berlanga didn’t want to fight David Morrell when he had the chance to, and focused on the weak opponents that Hearn and his previous promoters at Top Rank lined him up with.
“These guys have got to be business partners. They’re not my boss,” said Berlanga. “Why do I have to bow down to him. I could have made that March 8th fight myself. I could have got any TV network to make that fight happen. I don’t want to hear that s*** that DAZN couldn’t pay me. We were going to sell that s*** out [on Puerto Rico].
“I could have had the Scull fight. Me and him were talking. He told me to send the contract. He wanted $1.5 [million]. If Eddie Hearn really f***** with me, he would have said, ‘How much do you want? $1.5? I’m going to make DAZN pay that.’ As soon as I got the [IBF super middleweight belt from Scull], it would have been over. I was going to beat him.”
Berlanga sounds very naive with the ideas that he has. Even if he did beat Scull to capture his IBF title, it’s doubtful that Canelo would want to fight him again so soon, because that’s not his style. The only fighters in his career that he fought rematches with were ones where the matches were close and controversial. Canelo has never given rematches to fighters that he beat by lopsided decisions. If Berlanga got his hands on the IBF title, he’d be ignored by Canelo.
“I was going to beat him. With the rehydration clause, I was going to do it, because I was going to beat him,” said Berlanga about Scull. “Now, I’m the IBF world titlest. Canelo has got to come [for a rematch] because he would want the undisputed. Now, he’s fighting Scull in May.”
Berlanga sounds like he’s 100% deluded. Again, it’s understandable why he wants the rematch with Canelo so bad because he wants another massive payday. He’s not going to make that kind of money fighting any of the top 15 contenders at 168, and he’ll likely lose to most of them.
“It’s about this [money], bro. If the promoter sees that, he would have made that happen. I would have beat the s**** out of him,” said Berlanga. “I would have got my title. Canelo would have fought somebody else, and then me and him probably would have been headlining in September for undisputed because that’s what Canelo wants. To be two-time undisputed.
“That’s what happens when you have a promoter that thinks they’re the boss and want to run a fighter. That’s not happening no more. S*** like this happens now. I could have fought Scull. Me being by myself and being with a business partner and not with a [promoter] that thinks he’s my boss, we would have made the fight happen.
“With me, Scull wanted it because he knew he was going to make the bag. Absolutely,” said Berlanga when asked if he feels disrespected by Hearn. “Yes [this is Berlanga’s last fight with Matchroom]. “All the TV networks, the promotions, reach out. Let’s get this money.”
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