Berlanga Sets Sights On Scull’s IBF Belt In 2025

Edgar Berlanga says he wants to get his hands on the “IBF title bad” in 2025, and he’s targeting super middleweight champion William Scull this year.

Canelo Pipe Dream

Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) has already laid out his plans to quickly capture the IBF title from Scull and use the belt as a lure to get a rematch against unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez.

Berlanga’s hefty $10 million payday for that fight was nice, especially since he didn’t have to take any risky fights to earn the title shot. He should be happy with that money because he’s not going to get a second chance to fight Canelo, regardless if he captures the IBF belt.

If Berlanga wins that belt, he’ll be stuck having to defend it immediately against a top contender like Osleys Iglesias, and he’ll lose it right away.

It’s doubtful that the Mexican superstar would be interested in fighting Berlanga again so soon, if at all. He would receive criticism for fighting a weak, undeserving Brooklyn, New York native a second time.

Rehydration Roadblock

Even if Berlanga could fight for the IBF title, the 10-lb rehydration rule would sink his chances of winning the belt. With him rehydrating to the 190s, he couldn’t keep his weight down to 178 for the secondary weight check on the day of the fight. Berlanga reportedly rehydrated to 193 for his fight against Canelo. At that size, he should be competing at light heavyweight.

Last September, Berlanga, 27, lost a wide 12-round unanimous decision to Canelo at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The scores

118-109
118-109
117-110

“I want that IBF TITLE SO BAD !!!! World champion 2025 !! I’m going to f**** sleep scull 🇵🇷🇵🇷,” said Edgar Berlanga on X about his wanting to challenge IBF super middleweight champion William Scull for his belt.

Leapfrogging Again?

Boxing fans on social media don’t favor Berlanga getting a world title shot against IBF champion Scull. It would send the wrong message to fans that Berlanga can leapfrog the top contenders to get repeated world title shots without earning them.

What Berlanga should fight these contenders to earn a title shot this time rather than having it given to him on a silver platter:

Caleb Plant
Osleys Iglesias
Diego Pacheco
Christian Mbilli
Bektemir Melikuziev
Jaime Munguia

Berlanga is ranked #4 WBA, #4 WBO and #6 WBC. Given that he’s not ranked in the top 15 by the International Boxing Federation, he’s better off fighting for one of the three other belts. However, for Berlanga to put himself in a position as the mandatory for the WBA, WBC, and WBO belts, he would need to fight Plant, Iglesias, Mbilli, or Pacheco.

In other words, fighters that would likely easily beat him. But if Berlanga goes after the vulnerable Scull’s IBF belt, he would have the keys to a well-paying rematch against Canelo. It would be a crafty move on Berlanga’s part, but it’s doubtful he’ll get the second fight with Canelo. The backlash from fans would be severe for the Mexican star, who wouldn’t want to deal with it.