After sharing the ring with Canelo Alvarez in a pay-per-view main event, it was a bit surprising to see Edgar Berlanga’s next move.

The bombastic 168-pound contender is set to return in the next few weeks against Jonathan Gonzalez Ortiz, a fighter who once took an 11-year break. Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) also isn’t the headliner, something that hasn’t happened in years.

In the eyes of some, Berlanga’s 15 minutes of fame is up. But while there’s a certain section of the boxing community that believes his stardom has already declined, Berlanga wants everyone to take a seat and relax. According to him, he’s as popular as ever and the nature of his comeback fight is nothing more than a technicality.

“We could have made a main event fight March 8th, we had the date,” said Berlanga during an interview with Tha Boxing Voice. “Right after the Canelo fight, Puerto Rico wanted me to headline but you know how these promoters are. You know how business goes.”

That “business” Berlanga is alluding to, took place behind the scenes. Although he could have kept things under wraps, he decided to take everyone behind the curtains and reveal what went wrong.

“They (Matchroom) wanted to extend the contract," continued Berlanga. "They wanted to give me a main event fight but they wanted to extend the contract for one more fight and we didn’t want to do it. We didn’t like the deal that they had on the table.”

A private discord between himself and his promoter Eddie Hearn might be the cause for what’s taken place recently, but there’s an end game in sight for The Ring's No. 9 ranked super middleweight. Considering his newfound popularity, Berlanga finds it pointless in having a promoter so to speak. Simply put, his name, from his point of view, is a hot commodity.

“I’m a free agent after this fight. I’m free and that’s how I wanna be. I want to be a free agent. I don’t want anybody above me. I want to be right there with all the promoters now because I’m that type of caliber fighter now.”