JASON Quigley (20-2, 14 KOs) will fight Edgar Berlanga (20-0, 16 KOs) in a super middleweight fight at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on June 24. The Donegal man, who is trained by Andy Lee, will face a tough challenge in Berlanga, who started his career with an impressive string of 16 first-round knockouts.
Quigley fought on April 1 when he defeated Gabor Gorbics (26-37-3) by a points decision at the National Stadium in Dublin. It was the 31-year-old’s first fight since his November 2021 second-round TKO defeat to WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade in Manchester, New Hampshire.
While Quigley has campaigned at the 160-pound middleweight division for most of his career, he moved up to 168 pounds for his last fight and will campaign there again in this high-risk/high-reward assignment.
“This fight is massive for me,” said Quigley, according to the website Donegal Daily. “I need to get in there now, put in a great performance, and come away victorious. That’ll put me right in line for a world title shot and put me right in line for the biggest names in the super-middleweight division.”
Berlanga, the Brooklyn-based fighter of Puerto Rican heritage, recently signed with promoter Matchroom Boxing after spending the early part of his career with Top Rank, and his debut fight under the Matchroom umbrella will be streamed on DAZN. Berlanga was last in action on June 11 when he defeated Roamer Alexis Angulo by unanimous decision at the Hulu Theater.
In the early stages of the seventh round of that fight, Berlanga appeared to try and bite his opponent. He would later take to social media to apologize for his actions, but the New York State Athletic Commission suspended the fighter for six months and fined him $10,000.
The fight with Quigley was announced on Saturday night when DAZN’s Chris Mannix interviewed Berlanga and Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn in San Antonio, Texas, during the stream of the Jesse Rodriguez/Cristian Gonzalez fight for the vacant WBO flyweight title.
“June 24, he (Berlanga) is going back to Madison Square Garden against Jason Quigley, Puerto Rico against Ireland. It’s going to be very similar to Katie Taylor against Serrano, the atmosphere there was unbelievable,” said Hearn, who added that he thought that Berlanga was a superstar and who would have to “steamroll” through the likes of Quigley if he ever wants to start calling out fighters like Canelo Alvarez, someone Hearn has targeted as a potential future opponent for Berlanga.
“Quigley has boxed at world level, he’s fought Demetrios Andrade, he’s just had a win and just moved to 168. He is the perfect opponent for him (Berlanga) being out for a year to showcase what he is doing,” added Hearn.
While Quigley is going into this make-or-break fight the clear underdog, it is a huge opportunity for him and his team to try and shock the boxing world and reignite his career.
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