Berlanga (L) Serrano (R) Let NYC Fans Down
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
By Joshua Garcia
It’s hard to imagine anyone having a worse month than the New York Yankees, but Boxers Edgar Berlanga and Amanda Serrano stole the crown last weekend in The Big Apple. Remember that Fat Joe curse from last fall? Well it’s officially back and it’s real, it’s really real, realer than ‘Real Deal Holyfield’, like Snoop Dogg famously said.
The Trinity Avenue Native and Terror Squad great, Fat Joe, who came up with legends like Lamont “Big L” Peterson from Harlem, has unceremoniously donned his new moniker as the Eddie Mush for New York City athletes. With the Yankees’ meltdown in the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers after a Fat Joe performance at the Big Ballpark in the Bronx, and now following the embarrassment Edgar Berlanga faced in Queens at the hands of Boxer Hamzah Sheeraz, the Uptown rapper is being blamed for failures all over the Tri-State.
Fat Joe may not exactly be to blame for Edgar Berlanga taking the worst loss of his career, but where Joe gave him bad juju on his ring walk, Berlanga’s defense or lack thereof, did the rest of the damage at Louis Armstrong Stadium at the US Open in Flushing, Queens on Saturday. Hamzah Sheeraz arrived at the US Open like an overhand serve from Serena Williams. Bang! A left jab, a straight right, and a right cross ripped through the gloves of Berlanga, landing on his temple and chin respectively, sending him to the Garden floor like the chances of our beloved Knicks to bring home a championship in last season’s playoffs.
While Edgar Berlanga was busy snagging back to back losses after starting his career with 16-consecutive knockouts, his fellow Puerto Rican Amanda took the stage at Madison Square Garden for the third installment of the biggest Women’s Boxing rivalry in history against Ireland’s Katie Taylor. The first two bouts between Serrano and Taylor, although won both by Taylor, left the sporting world clamoring for more, mostly due to the controversial decisions inviting debate for a possible Serrano win or a majority draw.
Amanda Serrano ended all the controversy shaded around the first two decisions, and terminated all calls for reevaluation of the rivalry with Katie Taylor after her performance at The Garden Friday night. While Serrano had argument in the first two meetings, there was absolutely no gripe after the third fight. Taylor showed up, Serrano did not, plain and simple. Serrano was far from her normal style, exhibiting wildly inefficient strategy with both her jab and power punches landing a meager 18% of punches thrown ,while Taylor continuously landed highly effective power shots at double the rate and an overall connecting percentage of over 30% for the entirety of the 10-round bout. Taylor would have her hand raised victoriously at Madison Square Garden for the second time in their three fights and this time unanimously.
It was far from pretty for the two Boricua fighters from Brooklyn this last weekend across the Five Boroughs of New York. While Puerto Rican Flags are still waving from Coney Island to City Island, Amanda Serrano and Edgar Berlanga will continue their careers and representation of the communities and sport, Serrano responded, taking to social media to say, “Ready to make the biggest and best power moves of my life…stay tuned.” While Berlanga released a statement saying, “Boxing is as much mental and spiritual as it is physical. Some nights test everything inside of you, and this was one of them.”
Recent Comments