Canelo Alvarez predicts a knockout win over Edgar Berlanga on Saturday night in their fight on PPV. That’s a KO that he wants to give to his fans on Mexican Independence Day tomorrow night, and we’ll see if he can deliver against his opponent, Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs).
If Canelo is going to try and knock Berlanga out, he needs to do it early rather than carrying him to entertain the fans. He claims that he carried his last opponent, Jaime Munguia, because he wanted to give the people something to look at. Berlanga hits too hard for Canelo to purposefully allow to hang aorund.
What is interesting is that fans are talking more about the undercard than they are about the main event between unified super middleweight champion Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs) because they feel that it’s a done deal that he’s going to defeat Berlanga.
Canelo wouldn’t have had this problem if he had chosen an opponent that fans believed would have a good chance of beating him, like David Benavidez. His excuse for not fighting Benavidez is that he’s already fought everybody, and if they want him to take that fight, they have to pay. So, instead of getting him, Berlanga is the guy, and hopefully, he can make a good fight of it at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“I will,” said Canelo to the media, guaranteeing a knockout win over Edgar Berlanga on Saturday.
“Do you think Berlanga is the type of puncher that Canelo hasn’t faced yet? You think Golovkin, Kovalev, and Kirkland?” said Chris Mannix on his podcast, asking Eddie Hearn if he thinks Edgar Berlanga is a bigger puncher than anyone Canelo Alvarez has faced during his 19-year career.
“I don’t think Munguia punches as hard as Berlanga. Bivol, the way he was fighting, I don’t think he was looking to land big shots on Canelo Alvarez. [Jermell] Charlo, no. Plant, no. That’s why he’s been choosing these fights lately,” said Eddie Hearn.
It might not come down to how hard Berlanga hits but rather how well he can take the shots coming back at him from Canelo. Berlanga has been hurt in sparring by Erickson Lubin and dropped by Marcelo Coceres in the pro ranks.
“He doesn’t want someone that runs. That’s why I don’t think he’s interested in the Crawford fight, either,” said Hearn.” The last thing he wants is someone running around the ring, trying to steal rounds off him. Unfortunately, if you’re going to win the fight, you have to take chances.
“The problem is when you take chances, Canelo is also a great counterpunch,” said Hearn.
