Edgar Berlanga is reportedly negotiating with veteran Gabe Rosado to put together a fight in February 2025 in Puerto Rico.
Promoter Eddie Hearn reportedly has one fight left with his contract with Berlanga. He had mentioned the possibility of Berlanga fighting in Puerto Rico or New York against a tune-up-level opponent.
Hearn’s decision to let Berlanga fight Rosado in the final fight of his contract with Matchroom suggests that he’s interested in re-signing him and wants to invest in his career to build him into a star. There are different levels of stars in boxing.
There are fighters who are stars because they beat the best and are recognized as world champions. Then there are fighters who are stars based on their popularity, and they don’t hold world titles. Berlanga fits that category. He’s an East Coast star.
If Hearn weren’t interested in keeping Berlanga among the fold at Matchroom, he wouldn’t have allowed him to use the final fight of his contract fighting Rosado.
The 38-year-old Gabe Rosado would definitely fit the description of a tune-up opponent. Rosado has lost six out of his last eight fights since 2019. That’s not too good, but this would be perfect for the Brooklyn, New York native Berlanga. He can’t afford to fight a contender because he’s too valuable.
Thaboxingvoice reports that the Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) vs. Rosado (26-17-1, 17 KOs) fight is in talks. This will be the 27-year-old Berlanga’s confidence booster to get him back to his winning ways following his lopsided 12-round unanimous decision loss to unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez on September 14th.
Berlanga has been celebrating his loss, reveling going the distance and landing some shots against the 34-year-old Canel. There’s not much to celebrate other than Berlanga getting a big payday. The scores were:
– 117-110
– 118-109
– 118-109
Canelo seemed to toy with Berlanga, outboxing him and not going for the kill to knock him out. Berlanga looked massive inside the ring against Canelo, and he reportedly rehydrated to 193 lbs for the fight.
Gabe Rosado’s last eight fights:
– Bektemir Melikuziev: UD 10 loss
– Ali Akhmedov:UD 10 loss
– Shane Mosley Jr: MD 10 loss
– Jaime Munguia: UD 12 loss
– Bektemir Melikuziev: KO 3 win
– Daniel Jacobs: SD 12 loss
– Humberto Gutierrez Ochoa: UD 10 win
– Maciej Sulęcki: UD 10 loss
