Eddie Hearn likes the confidence that his fighter, Edgar Berlanga, is showing ahead of his headliner contest against Canelo Alvarez, who will be putting up his WBA, WBC, and WBO super middleweight titles on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) has said all the right things in promoting the fight, talking about wanting to unseat Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs) and take his spot at the top of the 168-lb division.
If Berlanga, 27, can pull it off, it would be one of the biggest upsets boxing has seen in many years because not many people are giving him a chance.
“I’ve got to say, I’ve never seen a Canelo opponent so confident. Of course, you’re always an underdog against Canelo Alvarez, but he’s so confident,” said promoter Eddie Hearn to Fighthype about Edgar Berlanga being confident going into his fight against Canelo Alvarez on Saturday.
Berlanga acts confident, but that could be just a bluff on his part. He knows what he’s up against in this fight, and the last thing he wants is to act timidly.
“He’s in the shape of his life, he’s full of confidence, and he can punch,” Hearn continued bout Berlanga. “You’re going to get a thrilling fight. This kid isn’t coming to take a paycheck. He’s coming to win the fight, and he’s full of confidence.”
A lot of fans think the only reason British promoter Hearn signed Berlanga to his Matchroom stable was to get him a quick title fight against Canelo before discarding him afterward and moving on to find someone else he can rapidly ramp up for a payday to do the same with them.
Berlanga was 20-0 when Hearn signed him in 2023, and the best names on his resume at the time were Steve Rolls and Roamer Alexis Angulo. Hearn fed Berlanga two British fighters, Padrig McCrory and Jason Quigley, and he beat them both with ease to get the Canelo fight.
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