Edgar Berlanga is bitter that his fight with Jonathan Gonzalez-Ortiz (20-0-1, 16 KOs) will be the co-feature instead of the main event this Saturday, March 15th, at the Caribe Royale in Orlando, Florida.
The event will be shown live on DAZN. Instead of being the headliner, Berlanga’s farewell fight with Matchroom is on the undercard of Austin Williams vs. Patrice Volny.
Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) says he was supposed to headline on March 8th in Puerto Rico, but promoter Eddie Hearn kept sending him contracts that he didn’t like, including one involving him extending with Matchroom.
Berlanga didn’t want to do that because he believed there would be a big demand for him as a free agent. He wants to “get the bag.” According to Hearn, Berlanga wanted to take an easy comeback fight following his loss to super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez last September. He wanted to be in a main event in a non-headliner fight.
Berlanga got a massive payday against Canelo rumored to be $10 million, which shows that Hearn delivered for him. He arguably hadn’t beaten anyone top tier to get that fight, and was not interested in fighting former WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight David Morrell when he was the mandatory for his belt.
Saturday’s Card on DAZN
Austin Williams vs. Patrice Volny
Edgar Berlanga vs. Jonathan Gonzalez-Ortiz
Jamaine Ortiz vs. Yomar Alamo
Jose Roman Vazquez vs. Jalil Hackett
Pablo Valdez vs. Mauro Maximiliano Godoy
Carlos Jamil De Leon Castro vs. Carl Rogers
Omari Jones vs. Alessio Mastronunzio
Free Agency Plans
“This free agency tour is going to be like Kobe, Lebron, Carmelo Anthony and Michael Jordan,” said Edgar Berlanga to Thaboxingvoice about the demand he expects for his services after his contract with Matchroom ends with his fight this Saturday against Jonathan Gonzalez-Ortiz.
It’s doubtful that there will be a huge demand for Berlanga’s services once he hits the free agency market, like he believes. You never know. If Turki Alalshikh and Dana White’s TKO Boxing want to sign Berlanga for big bucks, he would be happy. However, Berlanga would need to be protected for him to thrive the way he’s been carefully guided with Matchroom and Top Rank. Turki and Dana couldn’t put Berlanga in with the best and expect him to do well. He’d likely lose repeatedly. Dana was saying that the fighters that are with them will lose. So, maybe it won’t matter if Berlanga gets beaten over and over.
“Do you think I want to sit here [with Matchroom] and fight these type of fights. If I was a free agent now, I would be fighting a mega-fight right now,” Berlanga continued. “It would have been Munguia, Caleb [Plant] or [Jermall] Charlo. I’m aiming for the top dogs.”
Jermall Charlo, 34, hasn’t fought in two years, and he’s not the type that would sell in a headliner on PPV against Berlanga. It would require the older ones to be interested in purchasing the event for it to do well, because they’ve been too inactive.
“I was scheduled to fight on March 8th in Puerto Rico in the main event. Eddie Hearn and his crew kept sending contracts back that we didn’t like, and they wanted to do an extension. We didn’t want to do an extension. I wanted to do a one and done and get a farewell fight with them and do it in Puerto Rico. They wasn’t seeing eye to eye with us,” said Berlanga.
Note: The opponent that Berlanga wanted to fight for the Puerto Rico show was rumored to be 39-year-old journeyman Gabe Rosado (26-17-1, 15 KOs), who has gone 0-4 in his last four fights and hasn’t won since 2021. Obviously, that would be a poor farewell fight for Hearn’s Matchroom and DAZN to show in the main event on one of their cards. They want to provide value for the fans, and Berlanga vs. Rosado would be pure poison.
Superstar Status?
“I don’t want to fight on the co-main event, but it’s a sacrifice for me just so I can be a free agent after this so I can make my own moves and do what I want to do. I’m at that level now where I’m a superstar now. I’m a high-caliber fight and I sell tickets and I’m a must-watch fighter on TV.
Berlanga isn’t a superstar. He’s popular in parts of New York and in Puerto Rico. As far as the rest of the U.S, he’s just a manufactured fighter protected by his promoters, matched against tomato cans to set him up with a cash out fight against Canelo Alvarez. He’s done that, he’s showing his gratitude by wanting to leave Matchroom, believing that things will be better for him elsewhere.
“There are big, big, big, big fights at 168 that I want to make. I feel that if I’m alone and I can go with a TV network, because the TV networks are the ones that are bosses,” said Berlanga. “The TV networks are the ones that dish out the money, and then the promoters dish out the money to the fighters.
“So, whatever promoter I decide to go with to promote a big mega-fight and whatever TV network that we lay hands on, we make big money fight so we can both eat and make history. That goes for Jaime Munguia, Caleb Plant, Jermall Charlo. It’s about money moves now. It’s about making a lot of money for me and the other man across the ring.”
Whoever Berlanga signs with, they would have to be okay with him getting beaten when fighting good opposition, but he hasn’t shown the talent for him to do well against any of the top super middleweights. His best career wins are Padraig McCrory, Jason Quigley, Steve Rolls, Roamer Alexis Anguilo and Marcelo Conceres.
“You got me. I’m about to be 28. You got Munguia, he’s 28. You got Caleb Plant. He’s in his 30s. Charlo is in his 30s. These guys want to make a legacy, history, and make the bag. So, when they retire, they’ve got their family, their kids, and can eat well,” said Berlanga.
Last Updated on 03/12/2025
