Oscar De La Hoya believes his company has the best personnel to bring out Edgar Berlanga’s potential.
De La Hoya, the head of Golden Boy, recently had a meeting with the New York-born, Puerto Rican super middleweight about entering a promotional relationship.
The 25-year-old Berlanga made headlines recently when it was reported that he parted ways with his longtime promoter, Top Rank. The two were at odds with how to approach Berlanga's career.
Under Top Rank, Berlanga developed a reputation as one of the more promising prospects in the sport, knocking out his first 16 opponents in the first round and drawing strong crowds in his native New York City, especially at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden. His last four fights have been a different story, with Berlanga not only going the distance in each one but also lacking the pizzazz that accompanied his early ascent.
Along with De La Hoya, Berlanga has had talks with Eddie Hearn of Matchrom and Al Haymon of Showtime. Berlanga is managed by Keith Connolly, whose fighters have often fought under Hearn and Haymon.
In a recent interview, De La Hoya suggested Berlanga needs to be guided by Hall of Famers such as himself and Bernard Hopkins, the former middleweight champion and current shareholder and executive at Golden Boy.
“I know exactly what he needs,” De La Hoya said on The DAZN Boxing Show. “He needs a Bernard Hopkins. He needs Golden Boy. He needs that type of team to keep him focused, to keep him hungry. Because he’s already a machine. People already love watching him. He’s already selling out the Theater at the Garden.
“So what he needs is a team—and the team he has his great—but sometimes you need people like a Bernard Hopkins, somebody like me, who can tell you exactly what to do, or give you pointers, how to train, how to stay disciplined, how to stay focussed. There’s nobody better than Bernard Hopkins.”
De La Hoya also believes Berlanga would have no shortage of attractive opponents if he decides to sign with Golden Boy.
“Aside from that we have Jaime Munguia, we have [Gilberto] ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez, if he wants to do a catchweight,” De La Hoya said. “We have Bek[temir Melikuziev], who he can fight, guys like that who would be exciting. But Berlanga I enjoy watching.
"He’s of Puerto Rican descent and loves his Boricua. I would love to sit down with him and map out a plan for him to take him to superstardom.”
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