Edgar Berlanga loves the energy of fight week, predicts KO6 win

Super middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has predicted that he will knock out challenger Edgar Berlanga in eight rounds “or less” at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. So Berlanga decided to go two better.

“I’m going to knock him out in the sixth round,” said the Brooklyn-born Puerto Rican, who brings a record of 22-0 with 17 KOs into by far the biggest fight of his career. “He told me he’s got me in the eighth. I’ve got him in the sixth.”

Speaking on a stage in the lobby of the MGM Grand as part of Tuesday’s ceremonial “grand arrivals” that kick off fight week, Berlanga promised fireworks.

“It’s going to be a war,” he said. “It’s Puerto Rico against Mexico. It’s something for the history books. As far as Team Canelo, we always have respect for him, for his accolades and what he’s done in the ring, but on Saturday it’s a fight. He’s going in there to hurt me, and I’ve got to go in there and hurt him.”

Berlanga jousted verbally with the assembled crowd, the majority of whom appeared to be Canelo supporters – “All the haters, I love you, too. You push me to greatness” – and afterward, Berlanga confessed to BoxingScene that he was enjoying the experience and the atmosphere.

“It’s amazing, man,” he said. “I love the energy. This is like a concert, like WWE, [except] we’re fighting for our lives and we’ve got to put on a show. Without the people being here, there’s no show. Imagine having a stadium like T-Mobile with no fans. You need the fans. You need this kind of energy, the ‘You’re going to get knocked out,’ and ‘You’re going to knock him out.’”

Of course, Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) has been on this kind of stage many times before over the past decade and more, but Berlanga bristled at the notion that this challenge may have come too soon for him.

“I’ve been in this game for over 20 years,” he protested. “Something special is going to happen this weekend.”

Berlanga earlier raised some eyebrows when predicting that his boxing IQ would win him the fight. So, was he asserting that his ring smarts were higher than his rival’s?

“He’s going to put me to that level,” he said. “And all my life, I’ve been there. When it’s time to shine, when it’s my moment to come through, I’ve always come through. And this Saturday is going to be history.”

Besides, he asserted to BoxingScene, Canelo’s experience means he also has a lot more mileage on his body.

“He has 60-something fights, so that’s 60-something camps,” Berlanga said. “There’s a lot of wear and tear on him. He’s getting older. He’s not getting younger. He can say what he wants, but this Saturday, there’s nothing left to talk about. Everything he was saying, everything I was talking … now it’s time to back it up.”

Kieran Mulvaney has written, broadcast and podcasted about boxing for HBO, Showtime, ESPN and Reuters, among other outlets. He also writes regularly for National Geographic, has written several books on the Arctic and Antarctic, and is at his happiest hanging out with wild polar bears. His website is www.kieranmulvaney.com.