by The aspiring British Star Hamzah Sheeraz had an explosive arrival in the Super Mittelweight Division of Boxing and Edgar Berlanga on Saturday evening in the fifth round of her fight in the Usta Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens. The destructive performance was a subsequent debut at 168 LB for the 26-year-old from Ilford and dramatically changed the landscape of a weight class, which was ruled by Saul ‘Canelo’ Álvarez.
Sheeraz fought in the main event of a ring magazine card that took place on the No. 2 Show Court of the US Open Tennis tournament and dropped Berlanga twice in the fourth round before closed the show in the fifth closure for 17 seconds. It was the kind of presentation that not only silence critics, but also appeals a fighter from the view of the candidate to the candidate – and in this case in potential lucrative matchups with people such as Álvarez or David Benavidez.
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The backdrop for the best victory of Sheeraz ‘career best was just as striking as the campaign. For the first time, the US Open site organized a professional boxing card and converted the Louis Armstrong Stadium from the spiritual home of American tennis into a midsummer priorfighting stage. The event, originally planned for Central Park, brought the event instead Turki al-Heikh’s ring series in the ring series of the stadium, which was offered by New York Juli-World and a robust turnout, which was filled with the lower bowl and was pushed into the second stage. The scene cracked with energy-a sharp contrast from the sparsely visited Times Square card from May and a suitable final stone for a pit-heavy weekend in New York, which had started with Katie Taylor’s victory against Amanda Serrano on Friday evening in Madison Square Garden.
Sheeraz (22-0-1, 18 KOS) sat down by 160 lb. After this result, he acted as the former middle weight champion Andy Lee as his trainer and rose in weight. Both decisions looked inspired on Saturday.
After a slow first three rounds, Sheeraz took control in fourth. He slipped under a Berlanga Uppercut and countered with a left hook, which fell flat on the back in Brooklyn and half under the ropes. Berlanga (23-2, 18 Kos) defeated the count, but never recovered. Seconds later, Sheeraz let him fall again with a crispy combination of left -wing -oriented traps, which rattled him onto the screen, apparently used as defiant.
The bell temporarily refrained from Berlanga, but only a Salvo in fifth and on the right, the BERLANGA-to arrange the legitimate intervention by referee David Fields.
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“I promise you, I swear to you who was in the ring with me today, I didn’t have to stop,” said Sheeraz afterwards. “The amount of abuse I got after the last fight made me a hungry fighter.”
The difference in classes and serenity was obvious. Berlanga’s only entitlement to fame was the distance with Álvarez in 2023. On Saturday he was overwhelmed against the larger shunting Briton, who had reached what Canelo could not. The force that once led him to 16 Knockouts in the first round never occurred, while his defense made Sheeraz broad gaps to use. He has now been stopped in his career for the first time and goes with more questions than answers to his future.
Sheeraz, on the other hand, looks like a real threat in a stacked weight class. Its size, range and balance – not to mention his impact, which he masterfully used in the early round – suggest that he belongs to the elite. It remains to be seen whether Álvarez, Benavidez or someone other than next. But in one night in which the crowd almost filled the second decor of the stadium with 14,000 seats, he managed to win it from Brooklyn despite his victim’s hometown.
In the co-feature fight, Shakur Stevenson made one of the most entertaining appearances of his career and defeated the Mexico William Zepeda by unanimous decision to keep his WBC Lightweight title. The ring judges presented values from 119-109 and 118–110 (twice), but the fight was more spirited than suggesting the cards.
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Stevenson (24-0, 11 KOS) came into the ring under intensive pressure to achieve a more fan-friendly performance after Artem Haruthunyan was widespread last July. On Saturday he answered this criticism by exchanging one of the more aggressive fighters of the division and presenting both his technical championship and his persistence.
“I came here to prove a point,” said Stevenson in the ring. “It was not the performance I was looking for because I came here to try and fight, so I took more punishment than usual. But I proved that I was a dog.”
Zepeda (33-1, 27 KOS) came up more power strokes than any previous opponent, including a hard right in the third round, which seemed to be stunned by the 2016 Olympic silver medalist. But Stevenson reacted with attitude and precision, rendered crispy meters and dazzling combinations that repeatedly turned Zepeda’s head and supported him.
Already in the second round Stevenson stood in his pocket and exchanged head shots while slipping and rolled Zepeda’s best body work in his typical Philly Shell defense. In the middle rounds, he took over completely, doubled and traced himself on the stick and then followed with sharp left and uppercuts.
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Zepeda stayed a game, pushed herself and refused to go to Wilt, but Stevenson’s craft gradually dismantled the offense of the Mexican. On the 10th, the challenge of the challenger had slowed down and Stevenson began to use his legs more economical and only clinging if it was absolutely necessary. For Stevenson, the struggle in a 135 -pound division, in which an union with Gervonta Davis was one of the most convincing matchups of sport, there is uniformity with Gervonta Davis.
At the beginning of the evening, Subriel Matías conquered the free WBC super lightweight title with a majority decision about the previously unbeaten Alberto Puello, while David Morrell David Morrell gathered with the Cuban light of the heavyweight from a knockdown and Edge Imam Khataev in the fifth round with a shared decision.
