Middleweight contender Kyrone Davis believes that Edgar Berlanga has messed up his best shot at beating Canelo Alvarez by making him “mad” ahead of their fight on September 14th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Edgar (22-0, 17 KOs) has used his Brooklyn, New York upbringing to create some good trash-talking, taking the promotion to the streets to drive interest in the fight.
Berlanga’s Rushed Development
The downside of Berlanga’s criticism of Canelo is the anger that it has created in the prideful fighter. No one has talked as much trash as Berlanga has toward Canelo, and it’s heated him. But even if Berlanga had played it nice, he would still be out of his league in this fight because he didn’t have the experience for this fighter level.
Berlanga has been rushed into this fight by his promoters and management. It seems there was never any intent by his management from day one to build his career the way one normally would.
Berlanga has been brought along like Jaime Munguia by taking lower-level opposition to create an unbeaten record filled with tomato cans to get a massive money fight against Canelo.
If Berlanga’s management had been serious about developing him, they would have matched him against fighters like David Morrell, David Benavidez, Caleb Plant, Jermall Charlo, and Christian Mbilli.
Can Berlanga Land the One-Shot Bomb?
“I don’t think Berlanga has much of a shot in that fight. I don’t think he’s going to win,” said Kyrone Davis to the YSM Sports Media YouTube channel, talking about the Edgar Berlanga vs. Canelo Alvarez fight on September 14th.
“I think he’s going to try, but I don’t think it’s going to be enough. I hope for a competitive fight because I love competitive fights. I don’t think it’s going to be very much competitive. I think Canelo knows too much. He still has enough, and I think it’s going to be a little too much for Berlanga,” said Berlanga.
Canelo’s ring experience puts him well above the 27-year-old Berlanga, and it doesn’t matter that he’s a lot older than him at 34. The Mexican star has lost a lot from his game, but he still has the ring IQ to fall back on for fighters like Berlanga to make up for what he’s lost in physical skills. Power is the last thing to go, and Canelo still packs a big punch and has good hand speed.
“You can always land something in a fight, but unless it’s a one-shot bomb,” said Kyrone. “Even if you hurt Canelo in the fight, Canelo will get through it and figure out a way to win. He knows how to do that kind of stuff.”
Berlanga has excellent power, along with his size and youth. So, if he can land a big shot early in the fight, he’s got a chance of knocking out Canelo.
Many of Berlanga’s knockouts came early in his fights, with him charging across the ring and landing hard shots on the top of his opponent’s heads. However, Berlanga’s opposition has been horrid, and he’s shown the ability to score knockouts since his promoters stepped him up against C-level opposition.
He’s still not fought a B-level guy like Caleb Plant, William Scull, Sergiy Derevyanchenko, or Bektemir Melikuziev. There’s too much chance that Berlanga would fall apart against some or all of those fighters.
“I don’t think that’s true. He [Berlanga] said the key to the fight is the IQ,” said Kyrone. “I think that’s true, but I don’t think that’s on his side, especially not in this fight against a guy [Canelo] that has all the accolades and been in there with every kind of style. I don’t think that is it.”
Berlanga’s comment about believing that he could win due to his ring IQ sounds like he was parroting stuff he’d heard and throwing it out there to make an argument for his winning. It’s got to bother him that many boxing fans view him as dim-witted.
The Damage is Done
“I think the best shot that he had was keeping Canelo sleeping, and Canelo’s not training as hard,” said Davis. “I think that kind of woke him up, and I think that probably is not going to be good for him. A mad Canelo is a focused Canelo.”
It’s too late for Berlanga to undo the damage he’s done with his trash-talking toward Canelo. He might as well keep it up to try and increase the PPV buy rate to ensure that he makes more money from the fight. Even if Berlanga were to clam up or smother Canelo with compliments until the fight, it’s already too late. He can’t save himself.
“Some guys don’t fight good angry. He fights good angry. I think that he’s going to be in trouble. Six-round knockout,” said Davis when asked how the fight ends between Canelo and Berlanga. “Either or [systematic breakdown or clean shot].”
Read the full article here
