A bombastic Berlanga belittled Hamzah Sheeraz continuously and mercilessly mocked Oscar De La Hoya, a promotional partner in the card they headlined a year ago. The super middleweight contender’s crass behavior backfired because Sheeraz overwhelmed the brash Brooklyn native, dropped him twice and became the first opponent to stop him.

That fifth-round technical knockout caused Berlanga to refocus on training as he attempts to rebuild his career after signing a multi-fight contract with Zuffa Boxing in April.

“People are crazy,” Berlanga told The Ring. “They see that and they think, ‘Oh, this guy, he’s a clown.’ They don’t understand it’s entertainment. But I’m approaching everything different now. I feel like the old Edgar, a quiet assassin. Just go out there and just focus on the victory.”

Berlanga believes beating Butler in his first fight in 54 weeks will help him secure the types of fights he needs to reposition himself for another super middleweight title shot. Montreal’s Butler (38-5-1, 32 KOs) has been beaten by knockout or technical knockout five times, but 84 percent of his wins were recorded by knockout.

Berlanga (23-2, 18 KOs) recognizes he’ll encounter a powerful opponent in the 10-round main event of “Zuffa Boxing 09” at Madison Square Garden’s Infosys Theater in New York.

“I think he’s gonna come to fight,” Berlanga said. “He’s really gonna try to knock me out, with what happened in my last fight. But I like that type of fight. I’m a puncher myself, so I’ve been training hard. I’m training as if I’m fighting Canelo. You know, I don’t take no fighter lightly.

“Everybody I fight – if they’re C fighters, B fighters or A fighters – I always treat them the same because at that weight class, anybody can get hurt, anybody can get knocked out, anybody can get touched with a punch. And if you don’t come in shape, you could lose.”

Butler, 30, is 4-0 in super middleweight matches since he moved up eight pounds from middleweight following a ninth-round TKO defeat to Patrice Volny (20-2, 13 KOs) in June 2024 at Casino de Montreal. Former IBF/WBO middleweight champ Janibek Alimkhanuly (17-0, 12 KOs) stopped Butler in the second round 13 months before his loss to Volny.

“Butler, he’s got five [knockout losses], but I don’t underestimate him at all,” Berlanga said. “He got knockout power, so I just gotta be alert and just be locked in on him and execute my game plan, what we have for him, and just be on our defense. You know, just be alert.

“I’m not really too worried about the power and all that. I faced one of the hardest punchers in boxing, Canelo Alvarez, and you saw what happened with that. I’m not really too [worried] about people’s power. I know how to break that down.”

Berlanga, 29, is listed as almost a 4-1 favorite by DraftKings. The three-fight main portion of the card headlined by Berlanga-Butler will be streamed by Paramount+ in the United States (9 p.m. ET) and broadcast by Sky Sports in the United Kingdom (2 a.m. BST).

“I just keep putting in my head this camp that the job is not done,” Berlanga said. “I’m aiming to become world champ. I feel like boxing is a weird sport. When you win, everybody loves you. And when you lose, nobody pays attention to you, nobody gives a f*** about you. So, my mentality now is to stay locked in, keep my head down and just know that the job is not done. Even with the victory July 26th, you know, it’ll be the same thing in the post-fight interview. The job is not done.”