Eddie Hearn on Edgar Berlanga’s Loss to Hamzah Sheeraz: “Chunky” and “Flat” Performance Analysis

Promoter Eddie Hearn says Edgar Berlanga “looked chunky” and “flat” in his fifth-round knockout loss to Hamzah Sheeraz last Saturday night in their WBC super middleweight title eliminator at the Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, New York.

What went wrong for Berlanga?

Hearn speculated that his former fighter, Berlanga (23-2, 18 KOs), had started believing in his “persona” that he’s created after getting a couple of big paydays. He felt that he didn’t come into his main event fight against Sheeraz (22-0-1, 18 KOs) at his best.

“No, we had great run. I wish him all the best,” said Hearn to iFL TV on whether he’d like to work with Berlanga again. “Now, he needs to rest and reset his mind to decide how he wants to come back.”

It’s understandable why Hearn doesn’t wish to sign Berlanga again, and likely for these two reasons:

1. It would be expensive to re-sign Berlanga
2. The way he left Matchroom: Despite Hearn lining Edgar up with a big-money fight against Canelo Alvarez and giving him three cream-puff opponents, he still chose to leave when his contract was up rather than re-sign.
3. Long rebuild job needed: If Hearn brought Berlanga back, he would need to rebuild him slowly over three or four fights before returning him to world level. He would bring little value to Matchroom in those fights, and who’s to say he doesn’t leave after the rebuild is done? In other words, no loyalty.
4. Lack of talent: Berlanga’s loss to Sheeraz showed that he lacks the skill to beat the top super middleweights in the division. What Hamzah did would surely be duplicated by the other top 10 fighters at 168.

“Sometimes you can start believing in this persona: the entourage and all this kind of stuff. Sometimes you can take your eye off the ball,” said Hearn about what went wrong for Berlanga in his loss to Sheeraz.

Berlanga’s ego got out of control after his first-round knockout win over the tune-up opponent, Jonathan Gonzalez-Ortiz, whom Hearn had matched him up against last March.

Why Berlanga Looked “Chunky”

Additionally, Edgar received $10 million for the Canelo Alvarez fight and a nice payday for the Sheeraz fight. Berlanga may have been enjoying the millions and his newfound fame a little too much heading into the Sheeraz fight.

“I think Edgar looked flat tonight. I thought he looked chunky, but you’ve got to give credit to Hamzah. He was unbelievable. He was so composed. He took his time. He broke him down with his jab,” said Hearn. “He exchanged in the right places, and then started pushing him back. When he pushed him back, he started putting pressure on. He made Edgar make mistakes.”

Sheeraz caught Berlanga with a left hook in close in the fourth round. When he saw how easy it was to hit him, Sheeraz opened up with an explosive four-punch combination that dropped Edgar hard on the canvas. He wasn’t defending himself on the inside the way he had when fighting at range against Hamzah.

“It was a brutal knockout. The referee should have stopped the fight after the second knockdown [in the fourth],” said Hearn about Berlanga’s being badly hurt after being dropped twice in round four.

The referee chose not to stop the fight because Berlanga looked eager to continue. He’d banged his gloves together out of frustration, angry at himself, and wanting not to make the same mistake. The round ended before the action could resume.

They should have never let him out off his stool, and they were lucky he didn’t get badly hurt. He’s too brave for his own good. You saw when he went down. He was banging his gloves.

“I’m disappointed with Edgar, but I’m really pleased with Hamzah. I think so,” said Hearn when asked if Sheeraz can fight the winner of the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford fight. “That was a bad knockout [for Berlanga].”

Turki Alalshikh said last night that Hamzah will fight Canelo in 2026. What’s unclear is whether Sheeraz will fight Crawford if he emerges victorious against Canelo in their fight on September 13th.

It would be a waste of time for Turki to match Sheeraz against Alvarez if he’s coming off a loss to Crawford. With Terence, he might refuse to fight Sheeraz, preferring to push for a rematch with Canelo. He’ll want that second payday against the Mexican star.