Fresh off a contentious draw with Carlos Adames, unbeaten Brit Hamzah Sheeraz will leap to 168 lbs on 12 July to face Brooklyn puncher Edgar Berlanga in a WBC super-middleweight eliminator at Louis Armstrong Stadium, Queens. The Ring-promoted card, streamed on DAZN, marks the first boxing event in the U.S. Open’s show-court, with Shakur Stevenson-William Zepeda serving as the co-feature.
Sheeraz insists he’s been “underestimated” since that Riyadh stalemate and promises the 14,000-seat crowd a short night: “I’ll pump the jab, land the right hand and knock him the **** out,” he said after Berlanga’s mock gun-shot taunts at Wednesday’s presser. The 25-year-old arrives with a 15-fight stoppage streak broken only by Adames and has enlisted former champ Andy Lee to mastermind his move north.
Berlanga sounds off: Watch
Berlanga is rebuilding following last September’s decision loss to Canelo Álvarez and sees Sheeraz as the perfect springboard back toward title talk. The 27-year-old New Yorker vowed to “do him dirty and embarrass him” in front of a partisan Queens crowd.
Beyond bragging rights, the winner becomes mandatory to WBC champion Canelo, who has hinted at a late-2025 defence on Saudi soil. With both fighters owning knockout ratios above 75 percent and temperaments to match, Queens could witness its loudest summer knockout since Tito Trinidad stunned David Reid at the Garden a quarter-century ago.
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