Edgar Berlanga KO Streak Over Decisioned Nicholson

I say with a heavy heart that the 16 consecutive first-round knockout streak for Super Middleweight Edgar Berlanga is finally over. Good, because I think everyone involved was tired of it being mentioned.

The opening bout to kick off the main card of Top Rank’s ESPN show from the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, Florida saw Berlanga (17-0, 16 KOs) take on Demond  Nicholson (23-4-1, 20 KOs) winning by unanimous decision.

The final scorecards were all in favor of Berlanga 79-68, 79-69 x 2, which capped of a solid performance by Berlanga.

Nicholson told me leading into this fight that Berlanga has not seen anyone like him and the first round of this fight which the rest of Berlanga’s opposition hadn’t gotten out of, showed just that,

The pro-Berlanga crowd with chants of “Puerto Rico” during the eight-round contest were treated to a more measured effort by Berlanga. Berlanga was more economical with his shots and looked to not blitz Nicholson who came prepared to counter.

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61 months into his pro career, @EdgarBerlangaJr will see the second round for the first time.

Don't be sad The Streak is over, be happy that it happened. ???#NavarreteDiaz | LIVE NOW on ESPN pic.twitter.com/JtTHDEIJWv

— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) April 25, 2021

That was until Nicholson was sent down in the final seconds of the second round with a counter left hook, Nicholson survived the closing moments of the round, but once the third started it looked like Berlanga was just waiting to time his shot and close out the show.

Nicholson has knocked down again in the third round early on by a left to his right side and spent the rest of his round on his bicycle to avoid getting caught with any more shots. The second knockdown of the fight from my view looked like a slip, but was ruled a knockdown, regardless.

The fourth round of this one was the best round for Nicholson, as he was able to stick to his game plan and land some nice hooks which showed at the end of the round a busted lip for Berlanga. Berlanga scored another flash knockdown in the fifth and from there the fight just seemed to fall apart for Nicholson.

By the start of the sixth round, the focus for Berlanga was to attack straight to the head and Nicholson wasn’t shying away from it despite being on shaky ground and looking visibly spent after the fifth round. As the fight went into the final rounds, Berlanga got a fourth knockdown to close out the fight near the bell to end it.

“I feel amazing. It’s kind F#$@ed up that I had to eight rounds. I know the people here wanted to see a first round knockout. I enjoyed getting the experience,” Berlanga said post-fight to ESPN.

“I caught him with an amazing shot with 10 seconds left in that last round. I wanted to get him out! I didn’t, but I got my experience, especially in front of my Puerto Rican people.”

Berlanga was referencing the heavy partisan crowd for him of the 2,000 or more in attendance.

The goal was for Berlanga to get rounds in and this one did just that.

This for Berlanga was a great fight for him to finally show what he can do over the course of more than just one round beatdowns and credit to Nicholson as well, as the veteran  was more than game for this one and kept getting up until the final bell.