Undefeated Edgar Berlanga faces unbeaten Padraig McCrory live from Caribe Royale Orlando in Orlando, Florida on Saturday, February 24. The pair battles it out in the main event bout scheduled for 12 rounds at super middleweight.
26-year-old Edgar Berlanga (21-0, 16 KOs) was in action last June in New York, where he scored a unanimous decision against Jason Quigley after 12 rounds. The outing marked the first time the Brooklyn native stepped inside the ring after 12 months of absense.
Berlanga’s next opponent – Padraig McCrory (18-0, 9 KOs) of Belfast, Northern Ireland is coming off the win by unanimous decision against Steed Woodall last August. The 35-year-old Irishman fights for the first time in the U.S.
“The 12th round of my last fight, I feel like that’s really woken me up,” Berlanga said. “I haven’t missed anything, I know I have got the power to hurt anybody, and I feel different as a fighter, mentally, physically and spiritually. I know that there’s going to be fireworks coming from me on February 24, that’s a fact. I’m coming for the KO. He can say whatever he wants, but at the end of the day we have to go in there and tussle.”
“Me at my best, nobody is f**king with me. When I am 100 per cent, which you’ll see on February 24, I am unstoppable.”
“I’ve sacrificed a lot, changing my environment, coming to the suburbs and being fully locked in on myself and my craft. I’ve refocused on the small details of my style to bring the best out of me. So, from all that right there, it’s going to be something amazing.”
Edgar Berlanga: I’ll be one of the best 168-pound fighters in the world
“There is jealousy. I’m here in Tampa now and there’s a lot of people out there that were acting like they were my friends, and they weren’t. People that were close to me that were envying me, so I got rid of all those people and I’m just focused on myself and my team, and I feel that with God with me, the sky is the limit and there’s nothing stopping me.”
“I’ll be one of the best 168-pound fighters in the world. I think that after this fight my name is going to be buzzing again, and people will be talking about me and Canelo in September or Jaime Munguia. I feel those fights are there to be made and it’s time to go capture a belt.”
“I’m not the guy that fought Jason, and he’s going to see that. I’m getting better and better. I was four years away from Marc before that fight and I went through a lot of injuries in that camp.”
“I’m on a different level now physically. I’m sparring 15, 16 rounds with three or four different guys, and I didn’t get a chance to do that in my last camp with the injuries and coming back to camp overweight with the lay-off and not having a promoter, going through some depression in New York. We brought in ‘Memo’ who every knows has worked with the best, and we know we can go 12 strong rounds and go at it hard, and I know that if I do that, no one can stand a chance with me.”
In the co-feature, Cuban Andy Cruz (2-0, 1 KO) takes on Mexican Brayan Zamarippa (14-2, 5 KOs). The bout is scheduled to 10 rounds at lightweight. The IBF International and WBA Continental Latin-American titles are on the line.
Among the bouts featured on Berlanga vs McCrory undercard, unbeaten Shakhram Giyasov (14-0, 9 KOs) and Pablo Cesar Cano (35-8-1, 25 KOs) square off in the WBA welterweight title eliminator. Plus, Antonio Vargas (17-1, 9 KOs) and Jonathan Rodriguez (17-1-1, 7 KOs) clash in the WBA bantamweight title eliminator.