Calm, cool Sheeraz blows Berlanga away via 5th-round knockout
Victory in WBC 168 eliminator sets him up for 2026 fight Turki Alalshikh has promised him against undisputed champion Canelo Alvarez
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While super middleweight contender Edgar Berlanga talked trash and bragged about the violence he planned to commit against Hamzah Sheeraz during the buildup to their fight, Sheeraz mostly stayed quiet.
He didn’t raise his voice, remained calm, and showed little reaction to Berlanga’s brash comments and boasts.
Instead, Sheeraz waited for the fight to show what he could do, which was to score two tremendous knockdowns in the fourth round and then finish Berlanga in the fifth round of their WBC title elimination fight that headlined the Ring magazine DAZN PPV card on Saturday night at Louis Armstrong Stadium, which was hosting its first boxing event, in Queens, New York.
Sheeraz had come to the home city of Berlanga — he is a Puerto Rican from Brooklyn — and drilled him in front of his fans to put himself in position for a 2026 fight with undisputed champion Canelo Alvarez, boxing’s biggest star.
