Eddie Hearn insists he has changed Edgar Berlanga’s life, despite the American’s staunch criticism of him this week.
Berlanga fights for the fourth time under Hearn’s Matchroom banner on Saturday when he faces Jonathan Gonzalez-Ortiz in Orlando, live on DAZN.
‘The Chosen One’ is coming off a unanimous decision defeat to Canelo Alvarez in a bid for the unified super middleweight championship in September, but Berlanga feels his promoter has prevented him from capitalising on that fight, by placing him on the undercard of Ammo Williams clash with Patrice Volny, instead of headlining him in his native Puerto Rico.
The 27-year-old, who becomes a free agent after his fight on Saturday, has accused Hearn of not fully believing in him and says the Matchroom Chairman could have delivered him a fight with IBF champion, William Scull who is now tackling Alvarez for the undisputed super middleweight crown on May 3 in Saudi Arabia.
“I could have had the Scull fight,” he told FightHype.com.
“He was telling me, ‘send the contract.’
“He wanted $1.5m or something.
“Pay that.
“If Eddie Hearn really f***ed with me he would have said, [to Scull] ‘how much do you want $1.5m? I’m going to make DAZN pay that.’
“As soon as I’ve got the belt it’s over.”
‼️ Edgar Berlanga has MISSED weight for his WBO NABO super middleweight title clash with Jonathan Gonzalez-Ortiz in Orlando tomorrow night, Paco Valcarcel has told @fighthype.
⏲️ Berlanga has two hours to make the 168lb limit. pic.twitter.com/6toKHGN4nr
— Pro Boxing Fans (@ProBoxingFans) March 14, 2025
Hearn though insists that Berlanga, who missed weight on Friday by 1.6lbs, had a clause in his contract when he fought Canelo that ensured that Matchroom would give him a comeback fight on an undercard, should he lose.
The Matchroom boss claims he did explore a homecoming clash for Berlanga in Puerto Rico, but concedes that they could not come to an agreement over an opponent.
Despite Berlanga’s current disapproval of him, Hearn maintains that his company has delivered above and beyond for him.
“In three fights for Edgar Berlanga,” the 45-year-old responded in an interview with FightHype.com.
“He headlined at Madison Square Garden against Jason Quigley.
“He headlined against Pody McCrory here [in Orlando] and then he headlined at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas against Canelo Alvarez.
“He made over $12m in three fights with us.
“We’ve completely changed his life and his career and he deserves it.
“Good fighter. I like Edgar, but we’ve done is delivered everything we’ve ever promised and more and we’re doing that again on Saturday night.
“In an ideal world I would have liked to have headlined Edgar maybe in a bigger fight, but we’re doing what was promised within the contract.”
