By: Sean Crose
Things got off to an early start Saturday evening when ESPN+, Fox Sports 1, and ESPN2 broadcast the preliminaries of the Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder WBC and lineal heavyweight title card in Vegas. First up, the 27-2-1 Julian “J Rock” Williams took on the 12-4 Vladimir Hernandez in a scheduled middleweight 10 rounder. Williams did very well starting off, but Hernandez owned the second portion of the fight, leading to the Stockton, California native walking out of the ring with a split decision win.
Next up, the 17-0 Edgar Berlanga took on fellow super middleweight Marcelo Esteban Coceres, 30-2-1, in a scheduled 10 rounder. The first few rounds were a quiet affair, with Berlanga essentially trying to reach his man. By the fourth, however, both men traded leather. By the middle rounds, Coceres was doing well for himself, holding his own against Berlanga – at least. Still, Berlanga kept coming forward. Things stayed close and interesting in the last rounds. In the ninth, Berlanga went down. He got up – but it was most definitely an incident that WASN’T supposed to happen. With that being said, both men went to the final bell on their feet.
Needless to say, the judges gave Berlanga the nod.
