Eddie Hearn: Ready or not, Edgar Berlanga had to take Canelo Alvarez fight

Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn has characterized Edgar Berlanga’s upcoming fight with superstar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez as an offer that couldn’t be refused.

Puerto Rico’s Berlanga, 27, may be happy to have landed a dream shot at Canelo’s super middleweight titles on Sept. 14 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. But that dream could be far from reality as Berlanga faces a tall order against arguably boxing’s best bet in Alvarez.

Although the odds are against him, Hearn, chairman of Matchroom Boxing and Berlanga’s promoter, believes his fighter is ready to make his chance count.

“You never know if you’re ready for a fighter like Canelo Alvarez until you get in there because the problem is, he’s so elite,” Hearn told DAZN. “He [Berlanga]’s got a big heart. He’s got big belief, and he’s ready to perform on Sept. 14. It’s Mexico against Puerto Rico.”

Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) made a case for himself after stopping Ireland’s Padraig McCrory in six rounds last February. The emphatic win made Berlanga the WBA’s mandatory challenger at 168 pounds, with possible fights against Mexico’s Jaime Munguia and Christian Mbilli of France falling through.

Berlanga was then chosen by Canelo as his Mexico’s Independence Day fight night opponent. Since the announcement of the fight, Berlanga and Canelo have engaged in a war of words, with the former vowing to use his jab and ring IQ to trouble the latter. 

“There isn’t a lot in the gap between both fighters,” Hearn said. “And maybe Edgar could afford a Munguia or Mbilli, but they weren’t there and they didn’t happen. When you get the opportunity as mandatory, you’ve gotta take it.”

Hearn took the opportunity to announce that undefeated Diego Pacheco is on course to face the winner of Canelo-Berlanga following his sixth-round KO win over Maciej Sulecki last Saturday. Pacheco (22-0, 18 KOs) made it 10 stoppage victories in his last 11 fights after Sulecki was counted out from body shots that sent him to the canvas.

“I look at it a little bit like Diego,” Hearn said. “He’s gonna be mandatory to the Canelo Alvarez-against-Berlanga winner. He probably needs that friction fight, but you never know until you’re in the deep end.”

Bernard Neequaye is a sports journalist with a specialty in boxing coverage. He wrote a boxing column titled “From The Ringside” in his native Ghana for years. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) at @BernardNeequaye, LinkedIn at Bernard Neequaye and through email at [email protected].