'F***ing monster': Fighter's fiery response after crazy knockout
When it comes to boxing records, it doesn’t get much more dominant than Edgar Berlanga right now.
The Puerto Rican 23-year-old scored a first-round TKO against Lanell Bellows to open Sunday’s Top Rank card.
'EXTREMELY TROUBLING': Photo exposes judge in boxing 'disgrace'
WOW: McGregor accepts UFC ultimatum for octagon return
It was Berlanga’s 15th straight first-round knockout to improve his career record to 15-0. None of that is a typo.
Sunday’s bout ended with a sustained assault on Bellows, prompting the ref to call the fight.
Berlanga provided his own post-fight analysis, announcing “I’m a f---ing monster” from the corner of the ring.
Of course, the flip side of literally never seeing the second round of a professional boxing match is that Berlanga is still lacking experience in lengthy fights as he tries to graduate from prospect to boxing’s upper levels.
Mike Tyson said as much after the match, saying he wants to see Berlanga do this kind of stuff in the 10th round too.
In theory, Bellows was a decent bet to provide that challenge having gone the distance in five of his previous seven fights (with a record of 2-3-2), but then Berlanga plowed through him too.
As Yahoo Sports’ combat sports analyst Kevin Iole noted, Berlanga was aware of this, but wasn’t thinking too much about it on Sunday.
Berlanga has talked a lot about going rounds, but he admitted tonight he wanted he first-round KO. Said he got a bit overanxious and had to do push-ups. But he said Bellows was intimidated. “He looked scared.”
— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) October 18, 2020
Edgar Berlanga fired up after 15th straight first-round win
The rising star, while knowing he needs to prove he can win a fight that truly goes the distance, was nonetheless amped about his latest first-round demolition job.
“I could see with the first shot, I cut him open, and the look in his eyes, he didn’t wanna be in there,” Berlanga said.
“I looked in his eyes, he didn’t wanna be there, so I had to get him out.
“He’s never been stopped before. I’m the first person to stop him, and in the first round.
“It’s emotion and how I really feel. For all the critics, all the media, I just felt it in me that I had to say that.”
While Berlanga was determined to prove his critics wrong, the 23-year-old had plenty of support among the boxing world online after the fight.
“Holy s**t! Berlanga does it again! 15-0 now, all by KO1! Also cut Bellows over left eye. Bellows has never been stopped. That said that was a very fast stoppage. But Berlanga hurt him. The power is sick.” boxing reporter Dan Rafael wrote.
Berlanga is a tough man. A competitor with more movement and hand speed will pose a greater challenge IMO. #boxing
— JeandraLeBeauf (@jeandralebeauf) October 18, 2020
Berlanga has fought a lot of durable guys, I've been monitoring this, and he's just blowing through guys who have never been stopped, or only had a stoppage loss on their mark beforehand. His handlers are trying to get him rounds.. #boxing
— Steve Kim (@StevESPNKim) October 18, 2020
Berlanga’s power is so real
— Max Kellerman (@maxkellerman) October 18, 2020
BERLANGA is the future. Wow. 😳
— Bishop Brigante (@BishopBrigante) October 18, 2020
Click here to sign up to our newsletter for all the latest and breaking stories from Australia and around the world.
