The ongoing feud between Edgar Berlanga and Caleb Plant started last year in May when Alvarez fought Jaime Munguia. Later both super middleweights were present at the press conference in New York, for Berlanga’s upcoming bout with Canelo Alvarez. Insults were exchanged, followed by verbal sparring on social media. There have been several incidents where both, the Brooklyn-born boxer and Sweethands have taken on the opportunity to pull each other’s esteem down.

Though Plant tries to return with due diligence, Berlanga is seemingly the more provocative one. After winning his last match against Jonathan Gonzalez-Ortiz (by TKO in the first round itself) in March, the 27-year-old had pulled Eddie Hearn’s mic. He’d started bashing at Sweethands, chanting the slogan “F*** Plant.” Not just that, Berlanga tried to encourage the crowd at Caribe Royale, Orlando to join him in his chant. Recently, Naji Chill asked the Puerto Rican why he did that, in a friendly chat on his show Cigar Talk. The trash talker boldly replied, “He’s a b***h bro. Yo, I’m telling you bro, we was in jail, that n***a be washing my drawers bro. I’ll be like, ‘Yo, wash my drawers n***a.’ He’d wash my socks.” When Naji tried to defend Plant, Berlanga summarized his feelings about the 32-year-old in one word: “He’s soft, n***a. He’s soft.”

Chill then explained that the 23-2 boxer did smack Jermall Charlo though, referring to the backstage incident at the Terence Crawford-Errol Spence weigh-in in July 2023. But, Berlanga, confident in his viewpoint, cut off, “Charlo’s soft too, n***a…Yo bro, that n**** would have smacked me like that, I swear to God, that n***a would, have to leave Vegas, bro. That n**** would have had to went back to where he’s from, from f***ing Tennessee. He would have to go back over there.” So, if Plant is so easy for The Chosen One, why doesn’t he fight him already? Chill had the same question coming up.

”Is that fight going to happen?” Chill curiously asked. To which, Berlanga let an honest peek into his mind, “It’s going to happen bro. We marinate it in the right way. We can’t just go and give the fans what they want, right away. We can’t do that. Pacquiao and Mayweather, not saying we’re going to wait 8 years. You gotta build it up. You gotta make it worth, where people go, it’s going to be worth the money. He wins another fight, I won another fight—and then we make it happen. The fight gonna go from making $5 million to $15 million. You feel me?”

That is why Berlanga has just been fighting verbally for now, saving the actual punches for later, when fans are desperate for the bout. In fact, the WBA interim super middleweight champion’s manager, Luis DeCubas, had even reached out to Berlanga’s manager, Keith Connolly. He was trying to match them up for later this summer, with Plant ever-ready to “whoop” the Puerto Rican if given the chance. But Berlanga was in fact one to reject Plant.

While Edgar Berlanga gave it away by talking about it, it seems like his plans for building up the hype are working. The boxing community is enthusiastic about seeing the two meet in the ring. That’s because Plant had also been active in making verbal jabs at the trash-talker.

Edgar Berlanga just returning the talk

Sure, Berlanga intentionally provokes Sweethands, but Plant leaves no room either when it comes to criticizing him. In fact, he had previously grabbed that opportunity, and Berlanga was just returning the favor. In the last bout against Ortiz, Berlanga weighed 1.6 pounds more than the allowed limit in the class. Immediately jumping on the opportunity, Plant made an X post, pulling down Berlanga about the same.

“I made weight for my pro debut when I made $1,500 and every fight since.” Plant wrote. “You don’t train to the level of your opponent. A real champion doesn’t wait for the big moment to do what he’s supposed to do. He does it because that’s what he signed up for when he decided to be a pro fighter.”

Amid this escalating war of words, Plant is preparing to shift his focus back to the ring. Caleb Plant is already set to face Jose Armando Rosendiz on May 31, 2025 in Las Vegas. Jermall Charlo will be fighting Thomas LaManna on the same card. If both of them win their respective bouts, PBC is planning to put them up against each other later in the year. Berlanga criticized Plant for choosing the bout against Rosendiz, saying, “You are a f*****g disgrace to boxing, man; it’s f*****g sad!”

While the back-and-forth between the two boxers goes on virtually, and fans are expecting a bout, it isn’t likely they will get a Berlanga-Plant face-off before 2026.