Promoter Eddie Hearn is putting a positive spin on Edgar Berlanga’s loss to Canelo Alvarez, suggesting that he’s now the second most popular fighter in the super middleweight division following his “competitive” defeat last Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Hearn says Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) “frustrated” the unified super middleweight champion Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) at times with his ring IQ. Canelo was frustrated, but for a different reason than Berlanga’s ring IQ. He was upset with the head-butting, low blows, rabbit punches, and illegal straight arms Berlanga was using.
It appeared that Berlanga was just there to survive all night and didn’t fight hard until the 12th round. In the other rounds, Berlanga looked too afraid to throw his power shots for fear of being countered by Canelo again. After Berlanga was knocked down in round three, he played it safe, throwing mainly jabs.
Hearn and casual boxing fans were celebrating Berlanga afterward just because he got knocked out, but they didn’t have the insight to see that he was just trying to survive and wasn’t trying to win. He was there to go 12 rounds.
The Matchroom promoter Hearn is trying to paint a false picture that Berlanga had fought in a heroic way, but that’s not the reality. He was less impressive than Canelo’s previous opponent Jaime Munguia, who fought harder and actually won four rounds last May. Munguia was more courageous.
“He never really looked out of his depth in there. We got beat well by a legend, but it was always competitive the rounds,” said Eddie Hearn during the post-fight press conference, praising his fighter Edgar Berlanga after his loss to Canelo Alvarez.
It was only competitive because Canelo didn’t have the size or the gas tank to finish off Berlanga due to his huge 6’1″, 193-lb frame during the fight. If Canelo’s conditioning were better, he’d have knocked Berlanga out by the fourth round because he was there to be stopped if he could put his punches together instead of just loading up with single shots.
“To me, it was the boxes he ticked. The impregnable chin. He took every shot in the artillery of Canelo Alvarez. The knockdown was an incredible left hook. It was kind of a flash knockdown. He was never really hurt during the entire fight,” said Hearn.
Berlanga’s weight of 193 lbs is the reason he could take Canelo’s punches. When a light heavyweight takes on a super middleweight, they can withstand their punches a lot better than when they’re competing in their natural weight class.
If you stick Berlanga in with light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev, we’ll see how good his chin is. Obviously, Berlanga will never fight Beterbiev because his management is too calculated to risk putting him in with someone who would knock him out and cut off the spigot to the oil well that is pumping in that black gold.
“Even when he got dropped, he came back, was firing back, and the people loved it. His ring IQ, we knew was better than people anticipated, was good and frustrated Canelo Alvarez at times,” said Hearn.
Berlanga got up from the third-round knockdown and just took the punishment for the remainder of the fight, playing it safe. He used a lot of illegal roughhouse tactics that angered Canelo, which was why he was frustrated with him.
“As I told him earlier. He’s secured his entire life [with millions] and his family’s life forever at such a young age, and it’s just the beginning because right now, you have to say he’s the #1 name in the division outside of Canelo Alvarez, and there are huge fights out there for him,” Hearn said about Berlanga.
Berlanga is more popular due to his fanbase in New York City than the other contenders in the 168-lb division, but he lacks far behind in the talent department. However, Berlanga isn’t really a true super middleweight. He’s a light heavyweight that boils down to 168 to compete against smaller fighters.
Berlanga is like another David Benavidez type of weight bully, but with less talent, more of a self-promoter [Read: out of touch braggart], and has a shorter shelf-life. He needs to be protected more than Benavidez.
“I almost feel like he’s a new signing because we knew he was a big star before, but now, I feel we’ve got one of the biggest stars in the division. I think the comeback trail and the comeback plan is going to be really fun,” said Hearn.
When Hearn says “comeback trail,” that’s code for soft opponents like the ones he’d been matched against to build his 22-0 record to get him the Canelo payday. Hearn is selling a fake product to the public, trying to make it look better than it is. Berlanga is the equivalent of fools gold, and only the naive fans believe he’s the genuine 24k gold real thing.
Berlanga is not a new star, and Hearn isn’t going to be able to transform him into a steady money driver, like an oil well that pumps black gold for many years. Without protecting Berlanga by matching him against soft opposition that the fans won’t be excited to see, he’s going to lose if Hearn matches him against good opposition.
When I say, ‘Good,’ I’m not talking about Caleb Plant, Diego Pacheco, Jaime Munguia, and Christian Mbilli. Berlanga will lose to those guys. If Hearn puts Berlanga in with a high-caliber fighter like David Benavidez, David Morrell, or Osleys Inglesias, he’ll get knocked out.
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