Boxing star Edgar Berlanga has been left "embarrassed" after biting his opponent Roamer Angulo during their fight.
The super-middleweight star continued his meteoric rise with another victory across the pond against Colombian opponent Angulo. However controversy surrounded the fight after he appeared to sink his teeth into his rival during the seventh round when the pair clinched - which was left unpunished.
Berlanga initially refused to acknowledge his breaking of the rules, speaking after the fight: “He kept throwing elbows and, you know, head-butted me and stuff. So, I was telling him like, ‘Yo, chill!’ You know, like I didn’t wanna get cut or anything. But I don’t know – I just got aggressive in there, Mike Tyson style. You know? I got a little carried away.”
The 25-year-old has since made a U-turn and issued an apology on Twitter, writing: "I want to apologise for my actions and what I said yesterday about the Mike Tyson bite. I was in the moment and got a little ahead of myself. It doesn’t take away from the embarrassment that I have caused upon myself, my team, top ranks, and many others.
"I reacted poorly and take full responsibility. Moving forward, I am going to be more mindful and encouraging in my behaviour. Once again, I do apologise." Legendary heavyweight Tyson famously bit a part of Holyfield's ear clean-off when he was disqualified during their 1997 rematch for the rule break.
Berlanga's actions had shades of Tyson's when he appeared to target his opponent's left shoulder before moving up to his neck. Angulo tried to step back and prevent the incident from occurring, before touching his glove on his ear and appealing to the referee for action to be taken.
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Official Ricky Gonzalez failed to punish the bite attempt which ended up being considerably less damaging that the injury caused by Tyson's bite of Holyfield. He separated the pair and the fight continued with Berlanga rallying to unanimous decision victory in a tough outing.
The American star has now moved to 20-0 following his latest victory and believes he showed the best of his skills. “I knew it was a landslide,” Berlanga told a group of reporters. “You know, he couldn’t mess with me. My skills was too up there. And plus, my power, you know, I know he was hesitant a lot to come in, you know, to throw those wild shots like he did on [Anthony] Sims.
"You know, I boxed and I landed good, hard shots, so I know he respected my power. I just showed my real boxing skills and my jab. You know, everybody was talking crap about my jab, and I felt like I boxed good. You know, I got hit with a couple shots I shouldn’t have got caught with. But, you know, we weathered the storm and I just kept boxing. I really showed my boxing skills tonight.”
