Comments Thread For: Arum on Berlanga: He Was Determined to Proceed at a Pace We Don't Think He's Ready For

[Punch_n_Judy]

Clearly Top Wank ran out of hand picked patsy tomato cans to prop up in front of the latest barely credible donkey to grace their stable.

[Boricua181]

I agree with TR here, but I probably would’ve cashed in before releasing him (assuming he’s not pricing himself out) put him in a PPV fight against a guy like manguia. If he loses, release him, which you were going to do anyways; but if he wins, you have a new Puerto Rican star.

It's a cruel sport so that's about the size of it, I've been looking forward to a fight between Berlanga and Munguia.
Bob didn't use his better judgement on this, so he's either getting too old to be an effect promoter.
It also could be there was something else that was going on behind the scene that he did want to deal with any longer.
That Berlanga vs Munguia, would sell like hot cakes just off of the Puerto Rico vs Mexico rivalry, I just can't see Bob passing up that fight.
There was definitely something else that ended that contract, because anyway you slice it Berlanga is still a young, undefeated fighter with a huge following.

[Boricua181]

At least Arum is releasing guys now, and they don't have to sue to be released!

The lawyer got tired of being taken to court, the fighter's who've left Top Rank did so to get a bigger cut of the purse's, and they did.

[Wacked_Out]

It's a cruel sport so that about the size of it, I've been looking forward to a fight between Berlanga and Munguia.
Bob didn't use his better judgement on this, so he's either getting too old to be an effect promoter.
It also could be there was something else that was going on behind the scene that he did want to deal with any longer.
That Berlanga vs Munguia, would sell like hot cakes just off of the Puerto Rico vs Mexico rivalry, I just can't see Bob passing up that fight.
There was definitely something else that ended that contract, because anyway you slice it Berlanga is still a young, undefeated fighter with a huge following.

Even if he sucks he's still undefeated. They propped him up for no reason then. It makes no business sense to release him until he gets washed by a better opponent. Something else must be going on.

[Chris Hanson]

They ran out of guys who agreed to take a dive. Turns out there was only 16 of those.

This is very true. Those guys were throwing fights like Wilders opps were

[archiemoore1]

Bob says Berlanga wanted to fight at a pace they felt he wasn't ready for. Jesse Hart says Berlanga kept turning down a fight with him, but instead, wanted to fight over -the- hill guys. That's two completely different sets of facts that can't both be true. Someone is lying. Does Berlanga wanna fight killers, or does he wanna fight bums? Oh, and for the record, I am NOT saying Jesse Hart is a killer, but he's not over-the-hill either, and would be a strong opponent for Berlanga. He certainly wouldn't be one of those easy knockout victims that pad Berlanga's resume

[Boricua181]

Even if he sucks he's still undefeated. They propped him up for no reason then. It makes no business sense to release him until he gets washed by a better opponent. Something else must be going on.

Almost but not exactly. I don't know if Berlanga will ever win a title, let alone challenge for a title, but he doesn't suck as a fighter.
His last 4 opponent's were world ranked # 33 Angulo 27-2 (23 KO's), # 39 Rolls 22-1 (12 KO's), # 37 Coceres 30-2 (17 KO's), # 63 Nicholson 23-3 (22 KO's).
Those 4 opponent's aren't top ten fighter's, but they aren't bums either, and anyone who'd them that has either never fought in a ring, or just doesn't know enough about boxing.
So this year will be a big boom, or a big bust for the fighter who calls himself "The Chosen One", we will definitely find out, if he is or if he isn't.
I hope that he faces off against # 2 Ryder, # 3 Jacob, # 4 Andrade, # 21 Mosely, and # 22 Rosado, he will be some of these fighter's if not all of them.
Although I would like to see him also fight Munguia, Derevyanchenko, and Charlo, Boxrec doesn't have any of them ranked in the 168 pound division.

[DaPinoyboy]

Berlanga wants to be the next great Puerto Rican fighter but he needs a real trainer and focus on his craft and not his image.

[PBR Streetgang]

They know he’s not that good, that’s why they happily let him go. What’s the alternative? Keep him and rush him like he wants, probably lose money on him while he gets knocked out against a decent level fighter.

once he started fighting guys in the top 100 on boxrec, he started struggling

Top Rank wanted to keep him on undercards because they know his level is just someone to fill space on a card and would pay him for that level. He wanted bigger money and bigger fights and Bob knows it’s a waste of money

Nothing to do with career path. Top Rank just didn’t wanna invest in someone that they know isn’t good enough to recoup.

This is exactly it. Berlanga's only value was fighting for undercard money against a certain level of opposition. He could sell some tickets to offset enough of the cost but it required some selective matchmaking (such as an undersized Steve Rolls and a shopworn Romer Angulo).