KO in 1 – Edgar Berlanga aims to ‘destroy’ Quigley
Edgar Berlanga [20(16)-0] says he misses that first-round knockout feeling so much, he plans to get reacquainted with it when he fights Jason Quigley [20(14)-2(2)] this Saturday night.
The New York-raised Puerto Rican had 16 consecutive first-round knockouts between his 2016 debut and 2021 but has been brought the distance on each of his last four fights.
He wants to end the going-the-distance run and start a fresh KO streak when he takes on the popular Irish fighter in his first fight Matchroom banner at Madison Square Garden.
‘The Chosen One’, who was formerly promoted by Top Rank, wants to show the fans and his new promoter Eddie Hearn that he remains “dangerous” and plans to do so by knocking out the 32-year-old Quigley early.
“They’re going to be, like, ‘Damn, we have a dangerous guy at 168.‘ That first-round knockout streak, I miss it a little bit,” said Berlanga.
The outspoken and confident former Top Rank fighter believes he may have to do some chasing if he is to get the KO win.
“I know he’s going to run, so I trained for that. I’m going to cut him off and wear him down.”
The 26-year-old has been name-dropping pound-for-pound star Canelo Alvarez since teaming up with Eddie Hearn and co but he is adamant ‘destroying’ Quigley remains his sole focus for now.
“I gotta handle business. I gotta destroy Quigley; I gotta look the best I’ve ever looked in my career to make that statement.
“[A Canelo fight] was spoken about with Matchroom. ‘This is the fight that could possibly happen.’ Win impressively; win big. Focus on the 24th; destroy this guy; look good; perform to my best ability to show out. Then we’ll be talking up that fight.”
