Boxing
Hamzah Sheeraz took a week's worth of torment and flipped it on Edgar Berlanga in the worst way
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Hamzah Sheeraz took a week’s worth of torment from Edgar Berlanga and then flipped it on the hometown fighter with a punctuating statement Saturday night.
After dropping Berlanga with a punishing left-right-left combination and again with a left-right during the fourth round, Sheeraz delivered the exclamation point making “The Chosen One” taste the canvas early into the next frame for a scintillating fifth-round TKO.
Not only did the moment have the British Sheeraz playing spoiler to Berlanga’s hosting as the Ring III main event was at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, New York, neighbor to his beloved Brooklyn, but also he put himself in line for a possible crack at his idol Canelo Alvarez in the near future.
That and Sheeraz exorcised payback in its most severe form after having Berlanga repeatedly curse him out any chance he got and trolled him with a soccer jersey during fight week events.
In the midst of Thursday’s press conference, Berlanga used his cellphone to play the Jurassic Park theme song and drown out Sheeraz’s statements while he was talking on the microphone. He also relegated his opponent into an afterthought by using the session to pull off a premeditated showering of Oscar De La Hoya with money, calling the boxing legend a “b—" as Sheeraz looked on.
Then came Saturday night when Sheeraz walked out first and watched a bigger production in Fat Joe and Remy Ma bring Berlanga out to a stirring performance of “Lean Back."
When the bell finally tolled, Sheeraz patiently waited, exploiting openings during early rounds before detonating the explosive TKO and turning the self-proclaimed king of New York’s coronation into a nightmare.
