Edgar Berlanga, one of boxing’s fastest-rising stars, nearly went full Mike Tyson.
The NABO super middleweight champion, who gained fame with a string of 16 consecutive first-round KO wins to open his career, found himself struggling against opponent Roamer Alexis Angulo on Saturday at Madison Square Garden. So he decided to try his hand — er, mouth — at vampirism.
Replay showed Berlanga appearing to try biting Angulo in the neck and ear area in the seventh round:
The referee either didn’t see the attempted bite or didn’t care, as Berlanga was assessed no penalty for the incident.
Of course, Berlanga didn’t entirely escape consequences, as several of his boxing peers, and acclaimed actress/boxing fan Rosie Perez, noticed what went down.
Berlanga eventually won via unanimous decision, with scores of 98-92, 99-91, 99-91. The lopsided scoring surprised more than a few fans who thought Angulo won more than two rounds, but that will hardly be the largest controversy of the night.
After opening his career with nothing but first-round KOs, Berlanga has now won his last four fights via decision. Where he goes from here will be interesting, but we can probably guess what the jokes will be along the way.