The undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez is finalizing a fight against his WBA mandatory Edgar Berlanga for September 14th at the T-mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Boxing insider Mike Coppinger reports that the Canelo vs. Berlanga fight will “go ahead to head with UFC 306,” which will be held on September 14th at The Sphere in Las Vegas.
While fans hate the idea of Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs) throwing a bone to an unqualified contender, Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs), with his flimsy, inflated resume, filled 100% with entire scrubs, he’s the only option the superstar had to take back his September 14th Mexican Independence Day date from the UFC.
Since Canelo wasn’t going to bite the bullet and fight David Benavidez on 7 1/2 weeks’ notice for September 14th, Berlanga was the best he could do. He’s popular in New York, but that might be enough.
Chris Eubank Jr. wouldn’t serve the purpose for Canelo to take back the date from the UFC, and again, there wasn’t enough time for him to prepare for a fighter with the huge light heavyweight size of Benavidez on two months’ notice.
The Canelo-Berlanga promotion will be a dual one involving PBC and Matchroom Boxing. Berlanga is with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom, whereas Canelo is with PBC. It’ll be a dual network broadcast involving DAZN and Prime Video PPV.
Berlanga’s popularity in sections of New York among his Puerto Rican fan base and Canelo’s Mexican fans should make this a success in terms of PPV. Whether it will bring in the monstrous 1 million PPV buys that Berlanga predicts is doubtful, but it’s possible.
Berlanga’s fanbase in New York could bring in a lot of buys, and he’s good at angering fans by bragging about himself, the same way fighters like Shakur Stevenson and Devin Haney do. Fans don’t like seeing fighters given choice spots based on wins over pure tomato cans.
It sets fans’ kettles to a boiling point to see fighters who are fake and have terrible records being given #1 rankings and important fights.
Some fans see Berlanga as a guy created originally by Top Rank, matched intentionally against horrible opposition to create a fake star to sell tickets, and brought in PPV buys to create a Milli Vanilli type of pseudo star.
Canelo’s Mexican fanbase will turn out to see this fight and order it on PPV. Berlanga has a way about him that angers fans because he is cocky despite his meager talent.
Eddie Hearn recently signed Berlanga, but he’s taken no chances with him, matching him against lesser fighters, Padraig McCrory and Jason Quigley. He knows Berlanga’s limitations.
The anointed one ✝️ pic.twitter.com/gb1sfapKgQ
— Edgar Berlanga Jr (@EdgarBerlangaJr) July 23, 2024
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