Eddie Hearn states that Edgar Berlanga “won’t freeze under pressure” on Saturday night, going up against superstar Canelo Alvarez on the Mexican Independence Day in front of a large crowd at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Hearn feels that Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) won’t be in awe of Canelo, and he won’t be showing him respect.
(Credit: Ryan Hafey & Rey Del Rio/Premier Boxing Champions)
Berlanga has to go all out for him to have a chance of upsetting Canelo because he’s a huge underdog in this fight, and there won’t be a second chance if he loses. If Berlanga is beaten, the best he can hope for is if David Benavidez or Jaime Munguia decide they want to fight him.
Canel (61-2-2, 39 KOs) will defend his WBA, WBC, and WBO super middleweight titles against Berlanga live on DAZN PPV. Hearn says Berlanga doesn’t have any miles on the odometer and is as “fresh as a daisy.” That may be, but he’s still out of his league on paper and will need to fight above his pay grade to win.
“He’s the most pumped and most confident challenger I’ve seen in a long time,” said Eddie Hearn to Matchroom Boxing about Edgar Berlanga. “He’s someone who won’t freeze under pressure and will roll the dice.
“You see so many come with this opportunity. It’s almost like there’s too much respect, and you just want to say you went the distance and went to points against Canelo Alvarez. Sometimes, you can get a little overawed by the presence,” said Hearn.
The fighters that Hearn says showed Canelo too much respect are likely Jaime Munguia and Sergey Kovalev. The two of them looked grateful for the payday and didn’t show much aggression.
“I don’t think Edgar will do that. The task is monumental, but he will go for it on Saturday night,” said Hearn. “I think he’s got to because otherwise, you’re left kicking yourself. You just hope when you fight someone of Canelo’s stature that, at some point the motivation is not what it was.”
Canelo looked like he still had plenty of motivation in his last fight against Munguia, and he seemed pretty excited about this fight due to the trash-talking Berlanga had done.
“He is declining as a fighter. There’s no proof of it, but if it happens on Saturday, it would be lovely,” Hearn said about Canelo. “Edgar has a big task, but he’s up for it. He has zero miles on the clock. He’s not wartorn. He’s completely fresh as a daisy, and he’s ready to take that punishment on Saturday night if it comes,” said Hearn.
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