NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JULY 18: Edgar Berlanga and Steven Butler speak during the Zuffa Boxing Media Day at Fanatics Fest NYC 2026 at Jacob Javits Center on July 18, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Rob Kim/Getty Images for Fanatics)
Getty Images for Fanatics
Edgar Berlanga makes his return to the ring on Sunday, July 26 at the MSG Theater in New York when he takes on Steven “Bang Bang” Butler. If you like knockouts and slugfests, this is probably going to check all the boxes for you. Let’s look at the particulars for this upcoming Zuffa matchup. Let’s talk boxing.
Key Facts at a Glance
- Event: Zuffa Boxing 09, Berlanga vs. Butler
- Date: Sunday, July 26, 2026
- Venue: Infosys Theater at Madison Square Garden, New York
- Broadcast: Paramount+
- Prelims: 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT
- Main card: 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT
- Main event: Berlanga (23-2, 18 KOs) vs. Butler (38-5-1, 32 KOs), 10 rounds, super middleweight
- Co-main: Richardson Hitchins (20-0, 8 KOs) vs. Ricardo Salas (24-2-2, 18 KOs), 12 rounds, welterweight
When Is Edgar Berlanga Vs. Steven Butler?
Sunday, July 26, at the Infosys Theater at Madison Square Garden. Prelims open at 5 p.m. ET and the main card follows at 8 p.m. ET.
A note on the day, because several aggregators have it wrong. July 26, 2026 falls on a Sunday, and multiple card listings still print it as Saturday. Zuffa’s own event page and the MSG listing both have it Sunday.
The Infosys Theater is the smaller of the Garden’s two main rooms, the space that ran championship boxing for decades under the Felt Forum and Hulu Theater names. It is a right-sized room for a promotion staging its first New York card.
How Can You Watch Berlanga Vs. Butler?
Paramount+ carries the whole night, prelims through main event. No pay-per-view, no separate purchase, no traditional broadcast window.
That is the Zuffa Boxing model working exactly as designed. Dana White’s promotion has been aggressive about pulling names onto a streaming subscription rather than a PPV buy, and the Berlanga and Hitchins signings in April were the clearest signal yet. The reported Shakur Stevenson deal points the same direction.
For anyone stacking a boxing weekend, this lands two days after Tyson Fury’s return against Mariusz Wach and one day after Errol Spence Jr. faces Tim Tszyu in Sydney.
What Is The Full Zuffa Boxing 09 Card?
Eight fights, top to bottom:
- Edgar Berlanga (23-2, 18 KOs) vs. Steven Butler (38-5-1, 32 KOs) — 10 rounds, super middleweight
- Richardson Hitchins (20-0, 8 KOs) vs. Ricardo Salas (24-2-2, 18 KOs) — 12 rounds, welterweight
- Jalil Hackett (12-1, 9 KOs) vs. Sergiy Derevyanchenko (16-6) — middleweight
- Otto Wallin (28-3) vs. Vladyslav Sirenko (22-1) — heavyweight
- Emiliano Moreno (12-1) vs. Arnold Gonzalez (18-1) — welterweight
- Troy Nash (6-0-1) vs. Ethan Perez (8-0-1) — featherweight
- Dominique Francis (16-0) vs. Andres Sosa (18-4) — super featherweight
Hitchins is the more consequential fight on paper. He relinquished his IBF junior welterweight belt in April and moves to welterweight against a Mexico City fighter on a six-fight run. Two Brooklyn natives headlining separate bouts is the entire pitch for the room.
What Does Edgar Berlanga Need From This Fight?
Let me keep it a buck with you. Berlanga needs a bounce-back performance after he was dismantled by Hamzah Sheeraz almost a year ago in Queens at Louis Armstrong Stadium. Butler is a big puncher like Berlanga, but he’s also lost five fights — all by stoppage — and he hasn’t faced the greatest opposition in most of his wins.
Stylistically this should be exciting, but Butler appears to be tailor-made for Berlanga to shine. If he doesn’t…oh boy. The reclamation project gets more complicated.
The layoff is the part nobody is talking enough about. Berlanga hasn’t fought since July 12, 2025, and the two fights before this one were a decision loss to Canelo and the Sheeraz stoppage. A 1-2 stretch over two years for a fighter who opened his career with 16 straight first-round knockouts.
Butler arrives on a four-fight knockout streak since moving up to super middleweight, including a second-round finish over Ramadan Hiseni in March. Thirty-two knockouts in thirty-eight wins is not a record built on decisions.
Whoever wins at 168 still has to get past what David Benavidez is doing at the top of the division.