Berlanga Calls Out Eubank Jr.

Edgar Berlanga stopped Steven Butler and immediately started naming names.

The middleweight/" class="internal-link text-bone underline decoration-ash/30 hover:decoration-gold underline-offset-2">super middleweight ran through a wish list that covered nearly every significant name in the 168-pound division — Chris Eubank Jr., Jaime Munguia, Caleb Plant, Jermall Charlo, and Hamzah Sheeraz. Eubank is the priority. Berlanga wants the fight in London before the end of the year, and he made clear he has been pushing for it for a while.

"I want Chris Eubank. I've been talking about him for a long time. I think that would be a big, big mega-fight in London. We can get it on in November or December. I'm really trying to shoot for that fight,” Berlanga

If Eubank is unavailable, Berlanga has already mapped out the next option. A fight with Munguia carries its own weight — Puerto Rico versus Mexico. Beyond that, Plant's name comes up and Charlo remains an intriguing matchup. The name Berlanga keeps returning to, though, is Sheeraz.

"You know the fight that we want. The Hamzah Sheeraz fight. We want that fight. I want that smoke. But before I get that smoke, I want a world title, and I want to take it from Munguia or one of these guys. That way when I do meet up with Hamzah Sheeraz, he's going to have the WBO, and I'm going to have a world title. We can do a unification fight, and it's going to be the biggest fight in boxing,” Berlanga

The reality is that several of these fights face genuine obstacles. Eubank is already in discussion for his own December date and has his own preferred opponents. Munguia has options at the top of the division and will not be short of offers.

Plant's retirement status is unresolved. Charlo, who once looked like a future pound-for-pound star, has appeared only sporadically of late. Sheeraz, meanwhile, is building his own resume and will have the WBO mandatory cycle to navigate.