Edgar Berlanga's Next Move

Edgar Berlanga is returning to Madison Square Garden — the city that made him and the building where it all started to go wrong.

Zuffa Boxing 9 is officially set for July 26 at the Infosys Theater at MSG, with Berlanga headlining against Canadian middleweight/" class="internal-link text-bone underline decoration-ash/30 hover:decoration-gold underline-offset-2">super middleweight Steven Butler in a ten-round main event.

Berlanga is coming off a 1-2 run that would have derailed most careers. A decision loss to Canelo Alvarez in late 2024 was the kind of defeat that could be rationalised — Canelo is Canelo, and losing to the best in the division carries no shame.

The fifth-round knockout loss to Hamzah Sheeraz last July was harder to absorb. Sheeraz hurt him, stopped him, and did it in front of a New York crowd that had invested significantly in Berlanga's ascent. The combination of the two results left a 23-2 fighter needing to prove something fundamental rather than simply rebuild momentum.

Butler at 38-5-1 with 32 knockouts is four straight wins into his own run of form, most recently finishing Ramadan Hiseni in the second round in March.

Berlanga made his name at MSG by knocking out everyone in front of him before the fights got difficult. July 26 is where he finds out what he still has when the fights are difficult again.