Boxing is at its best when two of the best in or around their weight classes square off in fights that can go either way.<\/p>\n
That\u2019ll be the case when Edgar Berlanga and Hamzah Sheeraz step inside the squared circle against each other on July 12 as part of The Ring\u2019s \u201cRing III\u201d pay-per-view show at Louis Armstrong Stadium <\/a>in Queens, New York, in a WBC super middleweight title eliminator on DAZN Pay-Per-View.<\/a> \u201cSheeraz wants to go in and use his height and counterpunching ability against a guy who, in the past, has been a full-on attacker without nuance,\u201d Lampley told The Ring. \u201cDoes Berlanga now have other elements in his game to go with his straight-ahead power? If so, he might have advantages against Sheeraz. It’s an interesting matchup because we’re going to learn more about both of them.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s no shortage of question marks for both fighters heading into the high-stakes clash. Sheeraz<\/a>, who stands at 6-foot-3, has the height and reach advantage and will be fighting for the first time at 168 and with trainer Andy Lee. Sheeraz, 26, can cement himself as a threat in a loaded division with a victory. He’s also easily the second-toughest opponent Berlanga will have faced.<\/p>\n Berlanga<\/a>, of Brooklyn, New York, 28, is the much more proven commodity at 168 and turned in an admirable showing against undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez<\/a> in a unanimous decision loss on Sept. 14. He will have a chance to prove he’s turned a corner.<\/p>\n In his lone fight since then, Berlanga knocked out an overmatched Jonathan Gonzalez-Ortiz in the first round in Orlando, Florida, on March 15. That was his 17th stoppage and first since he started his career with 16 straight first-round knockouts. <\/p>\n Regardless of who emerges victorious, the winner will be well-positioned for a big fight the next time they step into the ring.<\/p>\n \u201cVery hard fight for me to predict,\u201d Breadman said. \u201cI feel like that Sheeraz is the more skilled fighter, but I feel like that Berlanga has the physicality and the athletic advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boxing is at its best when two of the best in or around their weight classes square off…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,10188,10181,10187,10186,10179,4496,10182,10183,10184,10185,10180,10193,10192,10175,10173,10174,10190,10176,10172,10194,10189,79,10191,10171,10178,16,15,10177],"class_list":{"0":"post-207092","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-boxing-community","10":"tag-boxing-fights","11":"tag-boxing-history","12":"tag-boxing-interviews","13":"tag-boxing-magazine","14":"tag-boxing-news","15":"tag-boxing-photos","16":"tag-boxing-rankings","17":"tag-boxing-results","18":"tag-boxing-schedule","19":"tag-boxing-videos","20":"tag-disqualification","21":"tag-draw","22":"tag-fight","23":"tag-fighter","24":"tag-fighter-news","25":"tag-knockout","26":"tag-latest-boxing-matches","27":"tag-ring","28":"tag-ring-magazine","29":"tag-split-decision","30":"tag-sports","31":"tag-technical-knockout","32":"tag-the-ring","33":"tag-top-fighters","34":"tag-uk","35":"tag-united-kingdom","36":"tag-upcoming-boxing-matches"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Among those who view Berlanga (23-1, 18 KOs) vs Sheeraz (21-0-1, 17 KOs) as a pick-em fight<\/a> are trainer Stephen \u201cBreadman\u201d Edwards and Hall of Fame blow-by-blow commentator Jim Lampley. Breadman and Lampley described the fight as 50-50, with neither Berlanga nor Sheeraz having a definitive edge.<\/a>
\u201cI love 50-50 fights between top fighters in their primes,\u201c Edwards said to The Ring<\/a>. \u201cAs a natural, purist of boxing, I love those kinds of fights because I feel like you get the best version of each guy. Neither guy has been a world champion yet, so I feel like we\u2019re going to get a lot of effort from both guys. Both guys are going to be willing to do a little bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sheeraz’s last fight at 160 resulted in a draw against WBC middleweight champion Carlos Adames on Feb. 22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.<\/a> Many believed Adames<\/a> did more than enough to win by decision. <\/p>\n