Unbeaten super middleweight contender Edgar Berlanga is set to face veteran Steve Rolls on Saturday in New York City.
Edgar Berlanga (18-0, 16 KOs) vs. Steve Rolls (21-1, 12 KOs)
Date: Saturday, March 19
Time: 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT (main event later in show)
Where: Madison Square Garden Theater, New York
TV/Stream: ESPN, ESPN+
Cost: ESPN+ is $6.99 per month or $69.99 annually
Division: Super middleweight
Rounds: 10
At stake: No major titles
Pound-for-pound ranking: None
Odds: Berlanga 10-1 favorite (average of multiple outlets)
Also on the card: Xander Zayas vs. Quincy LaVallais, junior middleweights; John Bauza vs. Tony Luis, junior welterweights
Prediction: Berlanga KO 10
Background: Berlanga got off to a remarkable start in his career, stopping his first 16 opponents in the first round, but he has looked human in his last two outings. Demond Nicholson took the 24-year-old New Yorker the eight-round distance in April of last year, although
Berlanga won easily. Then, in his first 10-rounder last October, he survived a knockdown in Round 9 to win a unanimous-decision
victory over surprisingly stubborn Marcelo Esteban Coceres. Berlanga is ranked No. 6 by the WBO and No. 13 by the WBA, meaning a title shot is on the horizon if he continues to win. Rolls might also test Berlanga. The 37-year-old Canadian is best known for getting blown out in four rounds by Gennadiy Golovkin – his only elite foe – in June 2019 but he’s a well-schooled boxer-puncher who should give Berlanga some resistance. Rolls rebounded from the loss to Triple-G by stopping Gilberto Perez dos Santos in January 2020 and Christopher Brooker this past December.
