Ahead of Hamzah Sheeraz’s punishing fifth-round stoppage of Edgar Berlanga on Saturday night, the odds were close. Some felt that Sheeraz, in his first fight at 168lbs, wouldn’t be able to take the punches of Berlanga, a longtime super middleweight.
Hall of Famer Timothy Bradley Jnr knew otherwise.
Bradley is an ESPN commentator, but he also provides blunter and more comedic analysis on his personal YouTube channel. Though he had expressed skepticism about both Berlanga and Sheeraz the week of the fight, Bradley published a video titled “DAMN BERLANGA ABOUT TO GET KNOCKED OUT!!!” on Friday.
BoxingScene caught up with Bradley on Monday to ask him to explain his prediction come true.
“I know Berlanga gets knocked down by left hooks. I know Berlanga gets knocked down by right hands. We’ve seen it in the past,” Bradley said. “Berlanga, we know, was pretty limited offensively and defensively. Sheeraz is pretty gifted. Got the long arms, the attributes, the advantages and whatnot. He can punch. So you just know he has a chance to land on Berlanga and hurt him. And when he did, oh my gosh. The reaction we got.”
That reaction: Sheeraz floored Berlanga twice in Round 4. The big-hearted New Yorker made it to his feet each time, if precariously, but only lasted seconds into the fifth, falling to 23-2 (18 KOs).
“What I liked from Sheeraz was that he wasn’t intimidated from the punching power of Berlanga,” Bradley said. “He stood his ground. He stayed at the proper distance, at the range where he can land his jab and attempt to land his offense, and Berlanga couldn’t reach him. Stayed really tight on his defense, he didn’t really spam jabs like I was expecting him to.
“If you be patient, then the fighter that you’re facing has to figure out a way to get past your defense and create offense. Berlanga tried! He was out-jabbing Sheeraz, but Sheeraz was just lining him up for that right hand. When Berlanga did get close, I expected Berlanga to really unleash with combinations, but that high, tight guard that Sheeraz was doing worked.
“Berlanga got tired [...] mouth wide open. Didn’t want to be in the ring.”
Bradley also complimented Sheeraz’s quicker hands and fast-twitch reactions. Still, Bradley wasn’t thinking about punches as much as other factors when he made his pick.
“This really didn’t have too much to do with X’s and O’s, to be honest with you,” Bradley said. “During the week, I just noticed the way Berlanga was acting. You gotta understand that a fighter has to have his mind on his job, on the opponent that he’s facing.
“Through the press conference and him battling with Oscar De La Hoya, trying to make a mockery out of De La Hoya, and not really being focused on Sheeraz – and just seeing Sheeraz being calm, cool and collected – that tells me right there that Sheeraz has an advantage already. His opposition is not thinking about him. He’s more thinking about the circus and the show on the outside than what his job and duty is inside the ring.
“So that right there alone, I’m just like, ‘Ain’t no way he beating no Sheeraz.’ [Whereas] a few weeks ago, I’m thinking, ‘OK, this is a pick ’em-type fight.”
The walk to the ring furthered Bradley’s impressions from the press conference. When he watched Berlanga walk out for his fight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, he noticed the confidence in the underdog’s face – Berlanga didn’t win, but Bradley believed Berlanga thought he would.
“When I saw Berlanga’s face walking out [for the Sheeraz fight], I turned to my wife and I said, ‘He’s gonna get knocked out. He’s scared. I can see it on his face.’ He did not want to be there, man. It takes somebody that been there in order to see that sort of demeanor in a fighter. And I saw it. The mood changed. The biggest fight of his life [against Alvarez], how the hell did he look so comfortable in his skin? But right now, in his hometown, against this guy, he don’t look comfortable walking out.”
Sheeraz, meanwhile, has raised his stock in Bradley’s eyes. Following the fighter’s lackluster draw in February with Carlos Adames at middleweight, Bradley felt Adames deserved the win – and was underwhelmed by Sheeraz’s ability to fight through injury.
“He didn’t have what it took on the inside because he had an injured hand, and they said because of that injury, he fought the way he fought, he couldn’t get it done. [...] He didn’t show that toughness and that dog that a champion is supposed to show. I get having a hurt hand, but you gotta figure out a way to win […] he didn’t do that. I felt like he, to a certain degree, pissed down his leg.”
Sheeraz certainly did not wilt under the bright lights on Saturday, appearing far healthier and willing to throw punches with the intent to stop his opponent.
After the fight, Sheeraz, now 22-0-1 (18 KOs), mentioned the torrent of social media – and in-person – criticism he received for his performance against Adames. While some might buckle under the weight of public hate, Sheeraz said he used the negative emotions as motivation for his next fight.
Bradley, who received a vicious backlash of his own after coming out on the winning end of a deeply unpopular decision in his first fight against Manny Pacquiao, knows something about that himself. Watching Sheeraz do the same has made him a believer in the lanky super middleweight.
“If you don’t like what people are saying, do something about it,” Bradley said. “And that’s what Sheeraz did. He knocked out Berlanga in front of his own fans, coming to America and being under that pressure. He’s the real deal. There’s no doubt about it.”
