Berlanga vs. Butler tops Zuffa Boxing 09 at MSG
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- Edgar Berlanga (23-2, 18 KOs) meets Steven Butler (38-5-1, 32 KOs) in a 10-round middleweight main event at the Infosys Theater inside Madison Square Garden on Sunday, with Berlanga a -370 favorite at DraftKings.
- Berlanga is fighting for the first time since a fifth-round knockout loss to Hamzah Sheeraz a year ago, and told CBS Sports he wants to evolve beyond his power-punching identity after admitting he had been 'lazy in recent years and living off his celebrity name.'
- Steven Butler, nicknamed 'Bang Bang,' is 6-1 with six knockouts since a 2023 middleweight title-shot KO loss to Janibek Alimkhanuly, and called it 'a bad decision' for Berlanga to return after a year out of the ring following Thursday's heated faceoff that required separation.
- Richardson Hitchins (20-0, 8 KOs) vacates his IBF junior welterweight title to move up to welterweight, where he faces Ricardo Salas (24-2-2, 18 KOs) in the co-main; Hitchins is a heavy -800 favorite.
- Sergiy Derevyanchenko and Otto Wallin make their Zuffa Boxing debuts on the undercard against Jalil Hackett and Vladyslav Sirenko, respectively, with the full card airing on Paramount+ starting at 8 p.m. ET.
- CBS Sports predicts Berlanga by TKO in round 8 and Hitchins by unanimous decision over 10 rounds.
Why it matters: Zuffa Boxing is only six months old and is already filling Madison Square Garden with a card anchored by a former Canelo Alvarez opponent, signaling the UFC-parent promotion's aggressive push into the saturated U.S. boxing market. Berlanga's stated attempt to reinvent himself as a boxer rather than a one-punch knockout artist — after 16 straight first-round KOs to start his career — will be tested by Butler, whose 32 KOs in 39 fights give him the power to upend those odds at +275.
