By: Sean Crose
Boxing returned to the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night as Edgar Berlanga and Jason Quigley headlined a DAZN broadcast card. With the WBO super middleweight title at stake, each fighter had much to prove in the scheduled 12 round affair. Brooklyn’s 20-0 Berlanga wanted to show that he truly was as good as advertised while Ireland’s 20-2 Quigley looked to rattle the fight world with an upset.
Defending titlist Berlanga may have been surprised by Quigley’s aggressiveness in the first. Not that Berlanga didn’t land some good shots of his own. Quigley went on to effectively avoid Berlanga in the second, though neither man did anything remarkable. Putting his jab to good use, Quigley may have even won the third. To his credit, however, Berlanga was not looking frustrated. His patience paid off, for he dripped Quigley at the end of the round. The Irishman got back to his feet, but the tempo of the fight had changed instantly.
The fourth was fast paced and close, but the harder hitting Berlanga may well have edged it. At the start of the fifth, Berlanga started banging away at Quigley. By the midway point of the round, the challenger’s face was bloody. Quigley went down again in the final portion of the fifth. It was questionably ruled a knockdown, but Quigley was able to get back on his feet. Still, the tide was clearly with Berlanga.
With that being said, Quigley resumed keeping his man at bay in the sixth. The seventh was close with both fighters looking good and having their moments. The eighth essentially showed more of the same: Quigley maintaining distance and Berlanga pursuing. By the ninth it became clear that Berlanga’s patience might be costing him rounds. What would happen if he couldn’t stop the challenger? Was the champion doing well enough on the cards? The tenth may have given Berlanga breathing space, as Quigley began to appear less active than he had been.
With that in mind, the eleventh was close. Indeed, it seemed like it might be anyone’s fight. Berlanga truly wanted to close the show, but Quigley remained too slippery in the twelfth…until a thunderous right from Berlanga put Quigley back on the mat. Once again, Quigley got up, but this time there was no question that Berlanga had rocked his man. With under a minute left, Quigley went down again. He got up yet again, but it was a mute point, at best.
The decision went to Berlanga, and rightly so.