Berlanga-Coceres set for Oct. 9 Fury-Wilder 3 undercard
Coceres unsuccessfully challenged Billy Joe Saunders for the WBO super middleweight title in 2019
Bob Arum revealed earlier this year that super middleweight prospect Edgar Berlanga intends to squeeze two more fights into 2021, one on October 9th and the other on December 11th. ESPN reports that he now has an opponent for the former, as he’ll take on onetime title challenger Marcelo Esteban Coceres as the lead-in bout for the Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder 3 PPV.
Argentina’s Coceres (30-2-1, 16 KO) came out of nowhere to push Billy Joe Saunders to the brink in 2019, leading on one scorecard before finally falling in the 11th. He’s 2-1 since, splitting two fights with countryman Sebastian Horatio Papeschi and most recently stopping Nelson Nicolas Rosalez in June.
Berlanga (17-0, 16 KO) made his inaugural departure from the first round in April with a four-knockdown unanimous decision over Demond Nicholson. He figures to have a fair bit of size on Coceres, a former super welterweight who generally competes at 160, and it’s hard to see a chin that succumbed to Saunders staying intact against this sort of power.