Hamzah Sheeraz’s trainer, Andy Lee, says Edgar Berlanga has been “adding fuel to the fire” with his crude remarks about him during the build-up for their main event fight on July 12th at the Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, New York.
Lee says Sheeraz (21-0-1, 17 KOs) is stepping into the “lion’s den” to take on the hometown boy, Berlanga (23-1, 18 KOs). He expects a loud crowd of Berlanga supporters.
Berlanga: Selling Tickets, PPV
Berlanga vs. Sheeraz will be fighting in a WBC super middleweight title eliminator. The event will be shown live on DAZN PPV.
“I think he’s a clown. I’ve said it before. I said it to his face, but I think he’s good for boxing. I genuinely think he’s good for boxing, and he gets views, talks a lot of s***,” said Hamzah Sheeraz to the Ring Magazine YouTube channel.
Sheeraz’s Reserved Behavior
Sheeraz should be helping Berlanga by following his lead, as he’s been a little too reserved. Sheeraz’s face looks blank much of the time, like he’s just there at the press conferences, looking like a mannequin. He’s not been any help in promoting.
“Doing all this, you name it, trying to rile up maybe himself more than me, to be fair. Me, myself, I can’t really get involved in it. One thing I can guarantee is it’ll be an entertaining fight,” said Sheeraz.
Berlanga is doing his part, trying to sell tickets and bring in PPV buys. He’s not doing his trash-talking for intimidation purposes. He knows that unsold tickets and poor PPV sales reflect poorly on him because he’s from New York.
He’s not getting much help from Shakur because he’s been stiff and mostly quiet during the press conference. The only one who’s doing a lot of talking on the undercard is Shakur Stevenson, but he’s saying the same things in every interview. He has no charisma. Berlanga is the one who stands out in that area.
“He’s just adding fuel to the fire that’s already burning bright. It doesn’t get any bigger than this. He’s headlining in one of the biggest cards that has happened in America in a long time,” said trainer Andy Lee about his fighter, Sheeraz, getting motivated by Berlanga’s trash talk. “He’s fighting a hometown boy going into the lion’s den.”
Berlanga’s NYC Fanbase
The Brooklyn, New York, native, Berlanga, is technically fighting at home, but he doesn’t have a huge fan base outside of the borough where he’s from. The huge number of unsold tickets for the Louis Armstrong Stadium for the July 12th event suggests that Edgar’s fans aren’t turning up in large numbers to support.
It’s less expensive to order the event on DAZN PPV than to deal with the headache of commuting to Queens and purchasing tickets on top of that. Sheeraz won’t have to worry about a lot of screaming and shouting from Berlanga’s fans because there won’t be a huge crowd.
Last Updated on 07/06/2025
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