WBA, WBC, and WBO tremendous middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez met together with his challenger right this moment for his or her kickoff press convention for his or her September 14th battle on DAZN and PBC on Prime Video PPV on the T-Cellular Enviornment in Las Vegas.
The Eddie Hearn-promoted Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) crowded Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs) throughout their face-off, however confirmed no animosity.
Throughout the press convention, Berlanga sounded offended when speaking about David Benavidez, whose followers have pushed Canelo to battle. He doesn’t like that followers trashed him, viewing him as a pretend fighter with a fabricated report, stuffed with tomato cans, preferring that Canelo battle his WBC obligatory Benavidez.
Berlanga’s Anger In the direction of Benavidez Followers
Edgar Berlaga: “I don’t need to hear Benavidez. They maintain mentioning Crawford. He fought a 154-pounder [WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov]. It was a troublesome battle. We bought enterprise to deal with on September 14th. Lots of people maintain mentioning Benavidez and all these guys. I do know it’s not going to occur. That’s simply it. September 14th, Berlanga-Canelo, Puerto Rico vs. Mexico.”
You must return to 2021 to discover a worse opponent for Canelo than Berlanga. Canelo’s battle towards Avni Yıldırım was on par with Berlanga. These two are fairly even within the expertise division.
Berlanga, 27, simply regarded grateful for being allowed to battle Canelo for his three titles and the prospect to “get that bag,” as he places it. With out this battle, it’s unclear how lengthy Berlanga would have been in a position to proceed profitable with out getting overwhelmed by one of many low-level fighters his promoters have steadily matched towards him.
Nobody exterior of NYC requested for Canelo to battle Berlanga, and it’s an terrible one on paper. I’d have most popular that Canelo battle certainly one of these skills:
- David Benavidez
- Christian Mbilli
- David Morrell
- Artur Beterbiev
Berlanga’s Questionable Credentials
He hadn’t fought anybody of true price to get the title, his #1 rating with the World Boxing Affiliation, and it’s fairly apparent that he’s getting this chance resulting from his recognition in New York Metropolis together with his Puerto Rican fanbase there, however not elsewhere. He’s not well-liked exterior of NYC, and nobody offers him any likelihood on this battle.
“It is a battle you’ve been chasing because you signed Edgar Berlanga to a contract over a yr in the past. Why was this the best time and the way did this deal get executed,” mentioned commentator Chris Mannix to DAZN Boxing concerning the Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga battle on September 14th.
FIRST FACE-OFF 👀@Canelo vs @EdgarBerlangaJr
👑 WBC, WBA and WBO World Tremendous Middleweight Titles #CaneloBerlanga | @DAZNBoxing PPV pic.twitter.com/rceqIeLpOk
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) August 5, 2024
“13 months in the past, we signed Edgar Berlanga, and the promise was, we’d ship the Canelo Alvarez battle,” mentioned Eddie Hearn. “On the time, we had been working with Canelo Alvarez as his promoter, and I anticipated it to be simple.”
Hearn ought to have a minimum of put in a token effort to place Berlanga in with a reside physique after signing him to present him some credibility to deserve a Canelo battle. Within the two fights that Hearn has had Berlanga, he’s matched him towards these low-hanging fruit: Padraig McCrory and Jason Quigley.
“He bought supplied a deal by PBC, and he took that deal; I began to assume an Edgar Berlanga battle wasn’t there for us,” mentioned Hearn. “Fortunately, promoters are working collectively much more as of late and the dream shot. Willy Wonka’s golden ticket.
“You win the lottery while you get this battle. Once you have a look at the place and the industrial facet, Edgar Berlanga is the obligatory challenger with the WBA. He’s 22-0, he’s a giant puncher, he’s Puerto Rican, and it has all of the urge for food for an ideal conflict.
“I feel persons are overlooking Edgar Berlanga on this battle. Once you have a look at the choices for Canelo Alvarez, exterior of David Benavidez, that is the most important battle for him.
