Is Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez still ‘the face of boxing?’ Is Canelo still a fighter to revere, respect and admire in spades? Is Canelo still on top of his game at age 34? Has Canelo’s reputation suffered due to the way he has “ducked” David Benavidez? Are YOU excited about this Saturday’s fight between Canelo and Edgar Berlanga?
There may be more questions you are asking of Canelo right about now, as it does seem there is a firm split in place, this between Canelo supporters and Canelo ‘haters?’ – or critics. Yes, Canelo should be fighting the man who called him out, taunted him, questioned his Mexican warriorship, this of course Benavidez. But if Canelo has ducked Benavidez, he is far from the first great champion/superstar to have swerved an undesirable opponent.
And so we get Canelo-Berlanga on Mexican Indendance Day weekend. Plenty of people have really laid into the fight – Oscar De La Hoya for one – with these folks saying the fight will bomb at the box-office. In terms of Canelo’s hugesly succesful fights, maybe this Saturday’s offering will pull in chicken feed PPV buys by comparison. But will Canelo care? Does Canelo care at this stage being another question that could be asked of him? Canelo says what he wants and he does what he wants. He has earned the right, too.
So we look ahead, and try to get pumped up about the fight that will go down at the T-Mobile in Vegas a few days from now. Canelo, even if he isn’t giving us the cream of match-ups with this fight, is always worth watching (that PPV fee will sting, however), and we could actually get a good fight on Saturday. For sure, Berlanga, unbeaten and a man who started off his career with an eye-catching string of first round KO wins, is talking a great fight.
So too is Canelo, who says he will enoy punishing Berlangs for the lip service he has been giving him. Both men are predicting a KO win; Canelo so as to put Berlanga in his place and shut him up, Berlanga so as to get rid of Canelo and give fight fans “a new face.”
Canelo has said he will do away with 27 year old Berlanga inside eight rounds. While Berlanga has simply stated he will “knock Canelo the f**k out!” Both men seem pretty pumped up, even if plenty of fans are not so juiced up. But again, this fight could surprise us by being an all-action affair. For sure, Berlanga is a big guy (see the two stood next to each other and the difference in size is noticable), and Berlanga can punch. Quite a few experts think Berlanga’s bext shot is to go for the KO, maybe the stunning, quick KO.
Berlanga cannot outbox Canelo, the thinking goes, so the proverbial ‘puncher’s chance’ seems to be his best shot, his only shot.
Canelo, 61-2-2(39) says he recognises the danger in Berlanga, but that facing danger is nothing new to him.
“He is a young fighter, he is is dangerous, but it is nothing new for me,” Canelo told reporters at a pre-fight presser. “I have experienced everything in boxing, with good fighters, strong fighters, I prepared for that, we are ready and on Saturday you are going to see a great fight.”
If Saturday’s fight does turn out to be an engaging, fun slugfest, even for a few rounds, it may prove to be a smack in the face of the critics who have so lambasted this match-up. We fans who will be tuning in will be hoping the action does heat up, that the fight is not a dud, that both men bring their A-game. But will even Berlanga’s A-game be enough to trouble Canelo?
Berlanga, 22-0(17) has a lot of big talk to live up to here, yet at the same time, has he really got anything to lose? He hasn’t, and that can make a fighter a dangerous fighter. Can Berlanga catch Canelo, a 65-fight veteran, with something, anything, by surprise? In terms of making Saturday’s fight a good fight, maybe even a great fight, let’s hope so.
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