Gabe Rosado is excited to be able to fight former world super middleweight title challenger Edgar Berlanga next year in Puerto Rico.
The New Yorker Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) and Rosado are both of Puerto Rican descent, but were born in the United States of America are expected to fight next on the Island in what would be a card promoted by Matchroom Boxing in DAZN.
19-year-old pro Rosado (26-17-1, 15 KOs) hasn’t won a fight in four years since his third-round upset victory over Bektemir Melikuziev on June 19, 2021.
Berlanga suffered his first professional defeat, losing to 168lb unified champion Canelo Alvarez on September 14 in Las Vegas. It was pretty one-sided for the most part, but Berlanga, 27, made it competitive with his big size. He had rehydrated 193 lbs after weighing in at 167 3/4 lbs.
That’s a weight gain of 25.25 lb after rehydration. Canelo dropped Berlanga in the third round, but then seemed to let his foot off the gas instead of going for the KO. Some believe that Canelo brought Berlanga.
They felt Alvarez didn’t want to be criticized for knocking out the Brooklyn, New York native because he had already been ridiculed for picking him over more proven fighters like David Benavidez and David Morrell.
The Scores
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Fans would prefer Berlanga to fight a real contender rather than the 38-year-old Rosado for his next fight, but it would be too risky to put him with a top-15 guy. Berlanga has already talked about getting a quick win and then fighting Jaime Munguia to get a rematch with Canelo.
It might take more than beating Rosado and Munguia for Berlanga to get a second fight against Alvarez, but you can’t blame him for wanting to at least try. Berlanga’s purse for that fight was $3 million, and he likely made additional money from the PPV. It generated 650,000 purchases. These are excellent numbers.
“It’s a fight for me that’s a dream fight just because I’ve never fought in Puerto Rico,” said Gabe Rosado to MillCity Boxing on him potentially fighting the New Yorker Edgar Berlanga later in 2025 in Puerto Rico. “I live in Puerto Rico for half a year. I have a house outside. So, I’m always here.
“I’m telling you, it’s going to put a different battery in my back. You have legends like Cotto, Tito (Trinidad), and Amanda Serrano out there. It’s so good for the sport. Puerto Rican boxing is back on the map, because you have so much talent now.
“You have Berlanga, and you have the vet, Gabe Rosado. To put us in PR, the island will like us. You have two Boricua from the States coming back to Puerto Rico,” said Rosado about him and Berlanga. “It would be history, it would be a drug event. There is no real difference from being in Puerto Rico and being in Philly.
Fans outside of the East Coast would prefer to see Berlanga fight someone a little younger than the 38-year-old Rosado. Rosado’s 17 losses make it hard to take this fight seriously. This reinforces the argument that the former Berlanga promoted by Top Rank is just a manufactured hype job created to sell tickets in the New York area.
It would be more interesting to fans outside of the New York area if Berlanga fought one of these contenders next:
– Osleys Iglesias
– Caleb Plant
– Christian Mbilli
– Diego Pacheco
– Erik Bazinian
– Bruno Surace
