Berlanga, Zayas Win Big in NYC!
Edgar Berlanga (18-0, 16 KOs) of Brooklyn, NY, stepped into the ring against tough veteran fighter, Steve Rolls (21-1, 12 KOs). Rolls did not come to lose and swept most of the first half of the fight. In press row the general consensus was that Rolls was winning the fight, but by a very narrow margin. It was not a very impressive outing for Berlanga and one has to wonder if the step up in competition is beginning to unveil some truth. In the end, it was a unanimous decision victory with scores of 96-94, 97-93 and 97-93 for Berlanga.
In the Co-Main event, Xander Zayas (13-0, 9 KOs) of San Juan, PR picked up a unanimous decision victory over Quincy Lavallais (12-3-1, 7 KOs). To his credit, Quincy stood and took every thudding power shot that Xander landed, but offered little in return. Zayas continues to thrill with a huge following from his native Puerto Rican fans, however, as he continues to move up in opposition it appears his lack of serious punching power is beginning to show. Thankfully Xander is not a one dimensional fighter and has a deep skill set and high ring I.Q and ring awareness that was very evident in this outing.
On the show opener, John Bauza (17-0, 7 KOs) put his undefeated record on the line against Tony Luis (29-5, 10 KOs). Bauze picked up a unanimous decision victory with scores of 80-72, 79-73, 78-74. The crowd that initially gave a huge ovation for Bauza, booed the decision. From ringside it did look like Tony Luis did enough to get a draw if nothing else, but was given some very wide margin scores ending in defeat for him.