In a super middleweight match between dangerous and explosive punchers, Puerto Rico’s Edgar Berlanga emerged victorious over Canada’s Steven Butler when the smoke cleared after torrid fight in New York City on Sunday night.
Berlanga (24-2, 19 KOs) returned to the boxing ring to face the knockout specialist Butler (38-6-1, 32 KOs) at Madison Square Garden Theater and demonstrated the year off would not be a problem on the Zuffa 9 Boxing card.
It had been one year since Berlanga was knocked out by Hamzah Sheeraz for the WBO super middleweight title. The Puerto Rican slugger who signed with Zuffa Boxing chose Butler for his first fight back.
It was almost a bad choice.
Butler pierced Berlanga’s guard in the second round and knocked him down for the count. It looked bad at that moment for the popular Boricua.
“He caught me with a good shot. I recovered good. What can I say, its boxing,” said Berlanga.
Berlanga didn’t waste time and erupted in the third round with a volley of blows that connected and had Butler rubber legged for the entire round. Though the Canadian fighter did not go down, he was in survival mode and managed to hear the bell for the end of the round.
Butler looked for payback in the fourth round and it was clear that both fighters were hungry for a knockout blow. Though each connected, they both survived the round, with Butler maybe winning the round.
In the fifth round, Berlanga looked sharp and in control as he used his jab and quick punches to keep Butler from jumping in with any combinations. Again Berlanga tagged Butler, but the Canadian proved resilient and took the blows.
Both hard-punchers knew they could hurt each other and went for the killing blow. Berlanga launched a six-punch salvo and caught Butler who finally went down for the count. The Canadian got up to resume the round with Berlanga on the hunt.
“A wounded animal is dangerous. I knew if I hurt him but don’t knock him out clean, he was going to come back,” said Berlanga.
Butler was told during the recess by his trainer that he needed to show something or the fight would be ended. Both fighters stood in the middle of the boxing ring and unleashed furious blows, with Berlanga landing a few clean blows. The referee jumped in between the fighters and tackled Butler to the floor and underneath the ropes. The fight was over at 1:19 of the round.
Berlanga was declared the winner by technical knockout at 1;19 of the seventh round.
“It’s a learning experience. We fought a dangerous fighter, a true knockout puncher,” said Berlanga. “I want to fight the best.”
Other Results
Former world champion Richardson Hitchins (21-0, 8 KOs) used his height, speed and razor sharp jab to neutralize Mexico’s Ricardo Salas (24-3-2, 18 KOs) in a 10 round welterweight clash. Salas had some moments, but he couldn’t solve Hitchins’ jab and that allowed the former super lightweight champion to move up in weight and win every round against Salas 100-90 three times.
“The guy was tough, he kept going,” said Hitchins. “I showed what I can do; box.”
In perhaps the most competitive fight of the night, Washington D.C.’s Jalil Hackett (13-1) defeated the dangerous Ukrainian middleweight contender Sergii Derevyanchenko (16-7) in a 10-round shootout. Despite the lack of experience, Hackett used his athleticism and energy to out-fight Derevyanchenko, who had great success with overhand rights. Hackett took every blow and returned fire to win by unanimous decision. The scores were 98-92, 97-93, 96-94 for Hackett.
“I was itching to get him later,” Hackett said. “That’s a guy dog over there.”
Ponderous heavyweights Vladyslav Sirenko (23-1, 20 KOs) and Otto Wallin (28-4, 16 KOs) belted each other for nine round until the Ukraine’s Sirenko unloaded a right and left that rendered Wallin unconscious at 2:59 of the 10th and final round.