Edgar Berlanga says he’s going to take advantage of the small 18-foot ring by pressuring Hamzah Sheeraz and “breaking him up” in their 12-round WBC super middleweight title eliminator next Saturday, July 12th, in Queens, New York.

Turki Alalshikh wants to make sure there won’t be any Tom and Jerry fight on his DAZN PPV. He chose to have the ring reduced from 20 to 18 feet to avoid a repeat of what occurred at the Times Square event in New York City last May.

Berlanga on Breaking Sheeraz

“I’m breaking him up. That ring is small, and I’m going to make it seem smaller,” said Edgar Berlanga to the Ring Magazine YouTube channel about his fight against Hamzah Sheeraz next Saturday.

Berlanga is going to have to get to Sheeraz early if he wants to knock him out, because once he gets comfortable, he’ll be a threat to stopping or outboxing him. Sheeraz’s trainer, Andy Lee, likely has a solid game plan to neutralize Berlanga’s power.

Hamzah Sheeraz: No Easy Fights

“Me taking this fight against Berlanga shows that I didn’t want to go in there and fight someone whom I’m meant to beat and build up a false sense of confidence,” said Sheeraz. “If I did take an easy fight, it would be doing an injustice to the sport.”

Hamzah isn’t saying whether Turki Alalshikh asked him and his promoter to take this fight with Berlanga. When Turki asks Sheeraz if he wants to headline against Berlanga, make millions, and potentially fight Canelo Alvarez next February, how could he say no?

Sheeraz came close to losing his last fight against Carlos Adames. That fight showed that it wouldn’t be long before he’d be weeded out at 168 if he had to fight some of the better fighters, like Christian Mbilli. Diego Pacheco, Caleb Plant. and Osleys Iglesias. Fighting Berlanga is a lot easier than facing those guys and likely getting beaten.

“There’s no merit in playing it safe. He’s definitely a puncher. I think he’s going to surprise a lot of people with the power he has,” said trainer Andy Lee about Hamzah.

Canelo Fight for Sheeraz?

A victory for Sheeraz over Berlanga could be the golden ticket to a world title shot against undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez next February. That’s assuming Canelo wins his September 13th fight first and Turki Alalshikh decides to use Hamzah as his opponent.

It would be in Hamzah’s best interest to knock out Berlanga. That would improve his chances of getting the Canelo fight. If he only beats him by a decision, berlangs may complain and raise a fuss.