Despite the surrounding circumstances, Berlanga and Zayas showed up to fight
In what seemed to be a coming out party for young up and coming pugilists from New York and Puerto Rico. This past weekend's Top Rank Boxing event had Xander Zayas and Edgar Berlanga at the forefront of its limelight.
Berlanga headlined the fight card against Steve Rolls and Zayas fought in the co-main event against Quincy Lavallais. But before we discuss the impressions those two left based off their performances, there was a lot of buzz surrounding each fighter for different reasons.
For Xayas, his longtime trainer Javiel Centeno was hospitalized the night before Xander's fight with sciatica. Despite Centeno still being present at ringside to support Zayas, he was not able to play his usual role as the chief cornerman of the 19-year-old undefeated prospect.
Now something as significant as your coach of seven years being hospitalized the night before the biggest fight of your career would seemingly rattle most pugilists. But Zayas was cool, calm, and collected from the moment he made his way to the ring all the way up until the final bell.
Zayas shined against Quincy Lavallais in showing the intricate layers to his fighting style as well as displaying a multi-dimensional game by cutting angles with his foot work and changing the delivery of his punches. Zayas showed that although he still may be up and coming, he is a polished fighter beyond his years. And the kid is only 19, which is honestly nuts because of how good he already is.
While Edgar Berlanga passed by Steve Rolls with a decision victory in their ten round main event, all of the questions that surfaced after his last fight against Marcelo Coceres. His fight against Coceres saw Berlanga really get put to the test against world class competition. Berlanga seemingly barely passed the test as he had to fight more than half the fight with a torn bicep and was constantly on the receiving end of counters from Coceres who even managed to knock Berlanga down at one point.
Despite the circumstances, Berlanga got back to his feet and fought on. His efforts against Coceres earned him a decision victory and a championship belt, but proposed questions about the layers of Berlanga's skillset. The commentary team made note of Berlanga's inability to throw combinations that could set up his power punches, as well as not utilizing effective footwork to try and cut off the ring. These two things began to cost Berlanga in the later rounds as he found himself winding up for one big punch and constantly walking into the slick jab of Rolls.
The reason these questions have surfaced is because, Berlanga was a first-round knockout machine up until his past three fights. These past 3 fights have all gone the distance and have seen Berlanga get tested more so than one would think of guy who had 16 straight first round knockouts.
Berlanga is essentially damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. When you go from knocking out 16 guys in a row in the opening stanza of a fight, to being taken into deep waters three times in a row. Because he is taking a leap in competition, having facets of your game exposed during those leaps in competition is a bit concerning for Berlanga as he continues his rise.
HOW SHOULD BERLANGA APPROACH THE CRITICISM HE IS NOW RECIEVING?
Comments