Boxing
Edgar Berlanga and Steve Rolls: date, time, viewing, background
The yet-to-be-beaten super-middleweight contender Edgar Berlanga will take on veteran Steve Rolls on Saturday in New York City.
Edgar Berlanga (18-0, 16 KOs) vs Steve Rolls (21-1, 12 KOs)
- Date: Saturday, March 19
- Time: 9pm ET / 6pm Pacific Time (main event follows)
- Where: Madison Square Garden Theater, New York
- TV / Stream: ESPN, ESPN+
- Value: ESPN+ is $6.99 per month or $69.99 annually
- Assignment: Super middleweight
- Circle: ten
- Under threat: No main title
- Ranking in British Pounds: Not available
- The odds: Berlanga 10-1 favorite (multi-store average)
- Also on the card: Xander Zayas vs. Quincy LaVallais, young middleweight; John Bauza vs Tony Luis, weight class competitors
- Guess: Berlanga KO 10
- Story: Berlanga has had a remarkable start to his career, stopping his first 16 opponents in the first round, but he has looked human in his last two matches. Demond Nicholson knocked the 24-year-old New Yorker by 8 rounds last April, though Berlanga won easily. Then, in his first 10th round last October, he survived being knocked out in Round 9 to win a unanimous decision victory over the surprisingly stubborn Marcelo Esteban Coceres. Berlanga is ranked #6 by the WBO and #13 by the WBA, which means a title will come if he continues to win. Rolls can also test Berlanga. The 37-year-old Canadian boxer is best known for being blown away by Gennadiy Golovkin – his only elite enemy – for four rounds in June 2019 but he is a highly trained boxer so will give Berlanga some resistance. Rolls recovered from the Triple-G loss by stopping Gilberto Perez dos Santos in January 2020 and Christopher Brooker this past December.