By Ricardo Lezama 
Edgar Berlanga is facing his toughest challenge yet in Jason Quigley, the former middleweight now moving up to Berlanga’s division and getting ready to also make his debut in a Matchroom planned event. Berlan (20-0) has an undefeated record, but the caliber of boxers in his initial 1st round KO streak was somewhat questionable, which has led to some dicey situations for the hard-hitting action style boxer. Quigley is a totally different boxer and poses a more formidable counter-punching style that may give Berlanga fits if he doesn’t keep his jab hand up on defense. The fight can be seen on DAZN, as Berlanga is no longer promoted by Top Rank and has instead penned a deal with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing. However, Quigley (20-2-0) appears to be just now heading into 168 which is somewhat of a problem since Berlanga is the naturally larger guy and has mastered that weight class.
A press conference will be held at 1pm tomorrow and broadcast in DAZN.
Matchroom has prepped a great docuseries covering the bout.
For his part, Quigley says he draws inspiration from Marco Antonio Barrera. Barrera once famously defeated a flashy and boisterous fighter in “Prince” Naseem Hamed. In his view, this is the fighter he most identifies with at the moment. Quigley is not an unproven entity as he pulled off a boxing upset in defeating Shane Mosley Jr in a close Majority Decision. Unfortunately, Quigley was not able to build on that moment as he also had a complicated outing in his showing with Demetrius Andrade. In this bout, his jaw was broken which left him basically ineffective during the entire bout and led to a KO more from the injury than his own boxing ability.
However, since then Quigley has improved and recovered fully. This time around Andy Lee will be able to coach him directly as well. We also suspect that the blessing from Robert Diaz’ promises this to be a great fight.
Robert Diaz Back To Matchmaking
Diaz in NYC with Team Quigley
We caught up with Diaz recently to figure out what he’s been up to since we last interviewed him in May. In putting together this match-up, his second project-by-project collaboration with Eddie Hearn, Diaz’ stamp signifies that this match will be an intense one, or much more intriguing, at least, than Berlanga’s first 16 career victories which all were against opponents less talented than Quigley.
Diaz mentioned via private communication with LCN that this was his second project with Matchroom Boxing. The former Golden Boy matchmaker has now branched out into other promotional groups, and while the recent Carlos Zorilla vs Regis Prograis was a bit tentative of a fight, lacking action, it did pull a surprise closer decision than most expected at the match’s onset. This reaffirms what we’ve long known about any Diaz match-up: expect as even a bout as possible.
Quigley Confident Heading Into Fight
For all intents and purposes, Quigley looks to be in shape and mentally ready to challenge Berlanga in his home turf. There is something to be said for the utter lack of pressure from not being walked in by Lil Wayne (famous rapper), having to tend to the home crowd or boxing in your literal home. A knockdown, upset or anything even remotely unflattering could be quite the challenge for Berlanga. And, so, herein lies the key for Quigley: use Berlanga’s energy, perhaps, nervous energy.
Jason Quigley: “”If Berlanga is overlooking me, it’s a career ending mistake. My hands are being raised on Saturday night”. And, it very well could be because the pressure is certainly on Berlanga more so than on Quigley.