Edgar Berlanga would prefer it if his fight Tuesday night didn’t result in him winning by first-round knockout.
Brooklyn’s Berlanga appreciates the strong start to his professional prizefighting career. It’s just that by knocking out each of his 13 opponents in the opening round, Berlanga hasn’t been able to show fans, media and his own handlers what he is capable of doing.
The 23-year-old Berlanga hopes that trend changes when the promising super middleweight prospect encounters Eric Moon in an eight-rounder in Las Vegas. ESPN will air the Berlanga-Moon match as part of the Oscar Valdez-Jayson Velez undercard from MGM Grand Conference Center.
“Everyone knows me as the one-punch knockout guy, the guy that has grenades in his hands and has never been past the first round,” Berlanga told BoxingScene.com. “And I just wanna show the world that I can go rounds. If I ever go into the second round, which will eventually happen, I just wanna show all my skills, man. I can box. I’ve got a beautiful jab. I’ve got good head movement, good foot movement. The world hasn’t seen that yet, and I know when the world sees that, that I have everything to be a world champion, that’s when I feel like I’ll really take off and explode in the boxing world.”
Promoter Bob Arum and manager Keith Connolly have high hopes for the unbeaten Berlanga, a proud Puerto Rican they’re trying to build into an attraction in his native New York.
The 29-year-old Moon (11-2, 6 KOs), of Marietta, Georgia, has been knocked out just once in four years as a pro. Kazakhstan’s Meiirim Nursultanov (13-0, 8 KOs) stopped Moon in the second round of their scheduled six-rounder in November 2017.
Otherwise, Moon has gone the distance in 12 bouts. Berlanga is familiar with Moon from the amateurs, thus he expects more rounds out of Moon than any of his 13 previous opponents gave him.
Berlanga’s longest fight has gone two minutes and 45 seconds since he made his pro debut in April 2016. As much positive attention as Berlanga has received for winning all 13 of his bouts by first-round knockout, he is looking forward to going deeper into fights.
“It’s gonna be a relief,” Berlanga said. “I’m gonna be happy because I know when that time comes – I just sit back and I laugh because a lot of people that’s in the gym with me, and they see me sparring, they see the real me. They see me boxing and moving, and they see the crazy head movement, they see the beautiful jab. They see it all in the gym.
“People are like, ‘Yo!’ They bug out, and I can’t wait until the world sees this. Because the world has only seen me in one round, you know, two minutes, a minute-and-a-half, 30 seconds. You know what I mean? They haven’t seen the full Edgar Berlanga yet. And I feel like when that day comes, it’s gonna be a relief. That’s when I know I’m gonna take off.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
