Edgar Berlanga Stops Steven Butler in Round Seven

Edgar Berlanga returned to winning company in New York, but not before Steven Butler reminded him that recovery assignments can contain unpleasant surprises. Dropped in the second round and drawn into a succession of heavy exchanges, Berlanga recovered to stop the Canadian after one minute and 14 seconds of the seventh at the Infosys Theater inside Madison Square Garden. The victory improved the Brooklyn super-middleweight’s record to 24-2 with 19 stoppages, while Butler fell to 38-6-1.

Berlanga was fighting for the first time since Hamzah Sheeraz stopped him in five rounds in July 2025, a defeat which followed his points loss to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. This was therefore less a routine appearance than an examination of what remained after two chastening nights at elite level. Butler, a proven puncher with 32 stoppages, had won five successive contests in Canada and arrived with enough power to make the favourite’s rebuilding exercise a hazardous one.

The opening round suggested Berlanga intended to proceed with some care. He worked behind the jab, attempted to control the range and resisted the temptation to turn every exchange into a trial of strength. It was a sensible approach, although common sense has not always been the dominant feature of his boxing. Butler remained patient, looked for the right hand and found it near the end of the second. The punch was at least partly blocked, but it carried sufficient force to put Berlanga on the floor in the closing seconds. The New Yorker rose promptly, yet the knockdown transformed the mood of the contest and gave Butler immediate encouragement.

Berlanga abandoned much of his early caution in the third and went directly at the Canadian. The result was dangerous but effective. Heavy right hands and left hooks drove Butler backwards and left him badly unsteady. Berlanga, to his credit, did not simply empty both hands without thought. Butler remained alert enough to evade several finishing blows and reached the bell without going down, though a ringside doctor examined him before the fourth.

The fourth and fifth rounds were fought at an unforgiving pace. Butler continued to land right hands of his own and showed that the second-round knockdown had not been a solitary accident. Berlanga was the stronger man in the exchanges, but he remained hittable and was obliged to accept punches while forcing Butler backwards. Midway through the fifth, a straight right from Berlanga again disturbed the Canadian’s balance. Butler survived, but he was now fighting in passages rather than controlling complete rounds.

Another medical inspection preceded the sixth. Butler nevertheless produced a decent response and appeared to be restoring some order when Berlanga caught him with a left hook late in the round. This time the Canadian went down. He rose, but returned to his corner dazed and under instruction to show immediate resistance in the seventh. Berlanga led on all three official cards after six rounds, by margins of 57-55, 58-54 and 57-55.

Butler’s final effort lasted 74 seconds. Berlanga forced him back and landed a succession of four left hooks as the Canadian stood upright and no longer defended himself properly. Referee Eric Dali stepped between them and stopped the contest at 1:14. Butler was then inadvertently pulled down during the intervention, after which Berlanga made an unnecessary gesture as though he might continue punching. It was a foolish flourish at the end of what had otherwise been his most disciplined stretch of work.

The stoppage was correct. Butler had been hurt repeatedly, dropped in the sixth and left exposed under another clean assault in the seventh. Berlanga’s victory was deserved and, in purely dramatic terms, useful. He recovered from a knockdown, resisted panic and broke down a dangerous opponent rather than relying upon one spectacular blow. The enthusiastic New York crowd received the sort of contest it had been promised.

There were still warnings among the celebrations. Berlanga was caught too cleanly by the right hand and was again forced to depend upon his strength and recovery. Against Butler, that proved sufficient. Against the leading super-middleweights, the same defensive openings would be treated with less generosity. This was a necessary victory and an entertaining one, but not evidence that the difficulties exposed by Alvarez and Sheeraz have disappeared.