Hamzah Sheeraz bulldozed his way back into world title contention at Louis Armstrong Stadium in New York, as he debuted at super middleweight by knocking Edgar Berlanga out in the fifth round on Saturday.
Sheeraz (22-0-1, 18 KOs) was coming in to this one on the back of a WBC middleweight title shot against Carlos Adames in Riyadh in February, where he was held to a draw by the Dominican, while Berlanga (23-2, 18 KOs) unsuccessfully challenged Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in Las Vegas last September, losing widely on points, before rebounding with a one-round knockout of Jonathan Gonzalez-Ortiz.
Sheeraz, under new trainer Andy Lee, opened with a nice duo of left hands, but it was the home favourite’s left that seemed to shade the first round in his favour.
Berlanga was working well up close, and put his jab to good use in the second, but the visitor had a solid third, a left hook finding the mark as well as an uppercut that rocked the head back of the 28-year-old.
The left hook was the danger punch for Sheeraz, and he found one, followed by a frantic combination that dropped Berlanga in round four.
The 26-year-old swarmed Berlanga on the restart, and a flurry of hard shots had his man on the canvas once again, this time saved by the bell to end the round.
It was to no avail though, as round five saw the end to proceedings, with Sheeraz detonating a left followed by a couple of sledgehammer rights to force Berlanga’s glove to the deck, where the referee waved the fight off.
The win put Sheeraz in a strong position to challenge the aforementioned Alvarez, who defends his undisputed super middleweight crown against Terence Crawford on September 13.
Stevenson sees off Zepeda
On the undercard, Shakur Stevenson defended his WBC lightweight title, as he took a clear points win against Mexico’s William Zepeda.
Stevenson (24-0, 11 KOs) largely dominated the contest, and ran out a handy winner by two scores of 118-110, and a third at 119-109 as Zepeda (33-1, 27 KOs) struggled in his first world title shot.
Matias dethrones Puello
WBC super lightweight champion Alberto Puello (24-1, 10 KOs) lost his title in his second defence, as former IBF champion Subriel Matias took a tight majority decision win.
Two tallies of 115-113 won the bout for Matias (23-2, 22 KOs), with a third judge returning a 114-114 scorecard.
Matias faced off with mandatory challenger Dalton Smith, who he is now set to face on November 22 in Riyadh.
Remaining Undercard
David Morrell rebounded after suffering defeat to David Benavidez in his last outing, and the light heavyweight squeezed past Imam Khataev (10-1, 9 KOs), getting off the canvas to take a split decision win.
Morrell (12-1, 9 KOs) was down in the fifth, but scores of 95-94 and 96-93 won him the fight, against a score of 95-94 in Khataev’s favour.
Reito Tsutsumi (2-0, 1 KO) was a second-round winner in his scheduled four-rounder against Michael Ruiz (2-8-1) at super featherweight.
