“Don’t Shake My Hand, You In My City!”: Berlanga ROASTS Shakur’s Main Event Meltdown – Real Fans Want Action, Not Running!”

Edgar Berlanga blasted Shakur Stevenson, reacting to him complaining about being the chief support on his undercard this summer’s July 12th mega-event at NYC’s Central Park. Berlanga let Shakur know that he’ll be the one who wakes the crowd up in the main event after he puts them to sleep with his boring performance on his undercard. Edgar added that he’s “The King of New York,” and said he doesn’t want Shakur trying to shake his hand when he sees him.

The Brooklyn, New York native Berlanga (23-1, 18 KOs) is headlining against Hamzah Sheeraz in a super middleweight battle. WBC lightweight champion Stevenson (23-0, 11 KOs) is upset that his big fight against William Zepeda (33-0, 27 KOs) isn’t being given top billing by Turki Alalshikh.

NYC Ain’t Buying It

Shakur believes that his fight should be the headliner with him being a world champion. However, he doesn’t connect with modern boxing fans. Holding a belt means nothing now. Fans want to be entertained, and Berlanga-Sheeraz has more chance of providing that than Stevenson’s fight with Zepeda. If the Newark, New Jersey native Shakur had a reputation of being a brawler, he probably would be placed in the choice position of headlining.

Berlanga is fun to watch, and his personality is ideal for creating interest in the July 12th card. He doesn’t even try to be a villain. It’s just him. Berlanga fits into the villain character role without faking it. As for Shakur, he doesn’t belong in this era. He should be back in the Mayweather era when fans were more tolerant of boring fights. You can’t fight like that now. Shakur should be thankful that Turki is even placing him on his card, because he really should wash his hands of him and say, ‘Be gone.’

We already know Shakur is a pure runner, and he’s going to be moving nonstop for 12 rounds against the volume puncher Zepeda. If he did stand and slug with the Mexican puncher, he likely wouldn’t last more than six rounds. Zepeda averages up to 100 punches thrown per round, and Shakur averages one-quarter of that even on his best days.

“They got me the co-main event underneath Edgar. I’m the biggest star on the card. I’m the guy that people want to see,” said Shakur Stevenson to the Breakfast Club Power 105.1 FM, complaining about his fight against William Zepeda being placed on the undercard of Edgar Berlanga vs. Hamzah Sheeraz on July 12th. “I got the best resume.”

Stevenson doesn’t know what he’s talking about. The fighters that fans want to see on the July 12th card is Berlanga and Zepeda. Those two hold the most interest for fans in the U.S. Shakur is basically just the opponent that faces the entertaining volume puncher Zepeda. As far as fans are concerned, the Mexican star Zepeda is the true champion in that fight, not Shakur.

“I’m the most accomplished, too. Just to put me on his [Berlanga] undercard. It don’t make no sense,” said Stevenson. “Take me out of that [July 12] card, what do you think that card does? Nobody is going to pay attention to it. They’re paying attention to it because of me.”

It makes all the sense for Turki to have placed Stevenson on the undercard on July 12th. You’ve got to believe that Turki and his team thought about this move carefully, weighing what fight would attract the most interest from fans in New York and nationwide. Berlanga vs. Sheeraz will attract more interest from New Yorkers, U.S, and the UK than Shakur-Zepeda.

“He’s [Turki Alalshikh] trying to make the best fight, but I want the biggest and best fights. I want to fight Tank,” said Shakur, continuing to beat the drum for a clash against Gervonta Davis. “I think Central Park and Times Square, I think that’s cool.”

Shakur needs to forget about Gervonta Davis for a minute and focus on the task at hand against Zepeda. That’s not a sure thing, win. We already saw how difficult it was for Tevin Farmer to deal with Zepeda’s pressure in their two fights, and he’s more rugged and powerful than Shakur by a long shot.

The Pariah Path

If Stevenson runs from Zepeda like he did against Edwin De Los Santos, he’s going to be booed out of the Central Park venue by the New York fans. Even if he wins, his stock will drop so low that Tank Davis won’t want anything to do with him. Shakur would be a pariah.

“It’s crazy I was really telling people it’s a double main event and 2 superstars on the fight card but NOW!” said Edgar Berlanga on Instagram, reacting to Shakur Stevenson’s complaining above about being placed on his undercard on July 12th.

“KING OF NEW YORK S***! Ya going to sleep, then I’ll be the one to wake y’all back up with fireworks! PS: Don’t shake my hand when you see me, I don’t wanna break ya hands before the fight. You In My City, Homie. Don’t Forget! @shakurstevenson 🗽”