Edgar Berlanga destroyed Jonathan Gonzalez-Ortiz on Saturday night in Orlando in a one-round onslaught. Berlanga didn’t even want the fight and he made that clear. The 27-year-old made quick work of the opponent who was well out of his league.
In case you missed it, here’s Berlanga’s demolition of Gonzalez-Ortiz:
It didn’t take long to see that Gonzalez-Ortiz had no business in the ring with Berlanga. He was completely outclassed. Fights like this are tough to watch when one fighter has no chance from the opening bell.
I spoke with Berlanga ahead of the fight, and he was seemingly miffed at his spot on the card as an undercard performer behind Austin “Ammo” Williams, and the level of opponent he was facing.
“Right now, I gotta go in there and sweep the floor with him [Gonzalez-Ortiz]
. I just finished coming off a big, big fight, fighting a legend. Everybody knows what type of level he’s on; He’s not on my level. We don’t overlook nobody, but I just gotta go out there and handle my business.”
Sometimes a fighter will say their opponent isn’t on their level and it’s bravado. When Berlanga said this to me in our interview, I knew he meant it.
After his unanimous decision loss to Canelo Alvarez, Berlanga felt he deserved to be in with a big name, and to perform in a main event. He wanted to fight Caleb Plant or Jaime Munguia, but instead, he was in with Gonzalez-Ortiz.
“It’s disrespectful,” Berlanga said to IFL. “It’s disrespectful to me. It’s disrespectful to my fans. I go in that ring and I fight. I gave the people that was out of this world with Canelo Alvarez. We went out there and we went to war for 12 rounds. For me to go from that to this is like, people is just trippin. My stock grew so much after that fight that I should be fighting one of these big fights against [Jaime]
Munguia or Caleb Plant.”
Berlanga’s lack of interest may have shown leading up to the fight as he missed weight by 1.6 pounds. Clearly, the fight still took place and Berlanga didn’t need the additional conditioning to get past Gonzalez-Ortiz.
Ahead of the fight, Berlanga traded barbs with Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn, and with Saturday’s fight being the final one on the former’s contract, it seems the relationship is in trouble and re-signing is far from a foregone conclusion.
Berlanga was originally slated to headline a fight in Puerto Rico on March 8, 2025, but instead, Matchroom placed him in the co-main event slot for the March 15 card underneath Williams vs. Volny. That’s the move Berlanga considered “disrespectful.”
It seems Berlanga badly wanted to fight in Puerto Rico “in front of his people.” He seemingly took the switch up personally.
Hearn, on the other hand, has defended Matchroom’s efforts with Berlanga’s career. Hearn pointed out that Berlanga earned $12 million across three fights with Matchroom—including the high-profile fight with Canelo in September 2024. Hearn insisted Matchroom held up their end of the bargain and stayed true to the contract.
In any case, Berlanga is seemingly a free agent and I’m not sure who got the worst of this ordeal. One thing is for sure, everyone had a better night than Gonzalez-Ortiz.