Berlanga eyes Scull’s IBF belt in 2025

Edgar Berlanga says he wants to get the “badass IBF title” in 2025, and this year he is targeting super middleweight champion William Scull.

Canelo Pipe Dream

Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) has already laid out his plans to quickly capture Scull’s IBF title and use the belt as bait to land a rematch against unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez.

Berlanga is strong $10 million payday because that fight was enjoyable, especially since he didn’t have to do any risky fights to win the title. He should be happy with that money because he won’t get a second chance to fight Canelo regardless of whether he captures the IBF belt.

If Berlanga wins that belt, he’ll be stuck having to defend it immediately against a top contender like Osleys Iglesias, and he’ll lose it right away.

It’s doubtful the Mexican superstar is interested in fighting Berlanga again so soon, if at all. He would receive criticism for fighting a weak and undeserving Brooklyn, New York native a second time.

Obstacle of rehydration

Even if Berlanga were able to fight for the IBF title, the 10-pound rehydration rule would reduce his chances of winning the belt. With him rehydrating into the 190s, he was unable to make it down to 178 for the secondary weigh-in on fight day. Berlanga rehydrated 193 for his fight against Canelo. At that size, he should compete at lightweight.

Last September, the 27-year-old Berlanga lost a wide 12-round unanimous decision to Canelo at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The scores

118-109
118-109
117-110

“I want the IBF TITLE SO BAD!!!! World Champion 2025!! I’m going to fuck off to sleep 🇵🇷🇵🇷,” said Edgar Berlanga in X about his willingness to challenge IBF super middleweight champion William Scull for his belt.

Line cutter

Boxing fans on social media are not favoring Berlanga to get the world title shot against IBF champion Scull. It would send the wrong message to fans that Berlanga can leapfrog the top contenders for back-to-back world title shots without winning them.

What Berlanga should fight these contenders to earn a shot at the title this time instead of giving it to him in a silver:

Plant Caleb
Osleys Iglesias
Diego Pacheco
Christian Mbilli
Bektemir Melikuziev
James Munguia

Berlanga is ranked #4 WBA, #4 WBO and #6 WBC. Since he is not ranked in the top 15 by the International Boxing Federation, he is better off fighting for one of the other three belts. However, for Berlanga to put himself in a position as mandatory for the WBA, WBC and WBO belts, he would have to fight Plant, Iglesias, Mbilli or Pacheco.

In other words, fighters who would probably beat him easily. But if Berlanga goes after the vulnerable Scull’s IBF belt, he would have the keys to a well-paying rematch against Canelo. It would be a shrewd move on Berlanga’s part, but it’s doubtful he’ll get the second fight with Canelo. The reaction of the fans would be severe for the Mexican star, who would not want to face it.