Edgar Berlanga has got nothing to lose going up against unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez on September 14th in their headliner at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) won’t ever be given another chance against Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs) if he doesn’t win or get a draw.
Most fans believe Canelo picked Berlanga because he’s not a threat based on his performance against limited opposition. It’s up to Berlanga to prove the fans wrong by beating Canelo and upsetting the odds.
“I’m intrigued by this fight and how he’s approached it. Berlanga brought a pretty good trash talk game,” said Chris Algieri to the Probox TV YouTube channel. “He hasn’t shown this depth in that aspect of his game up until now, in the biggest showcase of his career, under the brightest lights that he’s been under.”
As a New Yorker, Berlanga’s trash-talking ability came from his upbringing. When you live in New York City, criticizing becomes second nature. Berlanga is in his element, off the leash in attack mode.
“He’s really stepped up at these press conferences and made this entertaining to tune in to for these press conferences, which are oftentimes super boring, especially when you’re fighting a legend like Canelo. I can remember Jaime Munguia and Canelo, who looked like they were having a hug fest when they did their press conferences,” said Algieri.
The difference between Berlanga’s press conferences and the ones involving Munguia is like night and day. Munguia did very little to attract interest in his recent fight against Canelo on May 4th. He was so polite and did no trash-talking at all. I think that hurt the promotion of the fight. Canelo couldn’t promote the contest on his own without receiving static from Munguia, and ultimately that hurt the PPV numbers.
“We’re not getting that. There’s no love lost between these two, and it’s coming mostly from the Berlanga side. That makes it interesting. Plus, the fact that he’s so big. You see these guys standing next to each other. You see the size difference. You see the youthful vitality of Berlanga, and listen, he’s got nothing to lose,” said Algieri.
Berlanga’s size could play a part in this fight if he’s not weight-drained because he’s looked like a light heavyweight on fight night in his recent fights. Cutting down to 168 this week, Berlanga has looked very thin, and you could tell he’s going to look emaciated this Friday at the weigh-in. If he can take the weight off and put it back on without being drained, it could be an interesting fight for as long as it lasts.
Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain
“The guy can punch. He’s big, he can punch, and he’s got nothing to lose. He’s talking the right talk. If he can walk the right walk, he can make this fight interesting in the first couple of rounds. We’ll see what happens after that because, obviously, the biggest difference here is the experience and world-class opposition that Canelo has been in with throughout his career,” said Algieri.
Berlanga knows he’s got nothing to lose because he won’t get a second chance against Canelo if he’s beaten. That’s the only guy at 168 that Berlanga can make big money fighting unless David Benavidez wants to return to the division to fight him. I don’t know why he would if Berlanga is coming off a loss.
“All in all, I think it’s an interesting fight, and I think it’s going to be more entertaining than people gave credit for when it was first announced,” said Algieri.
It could be an exciting fight if Berlanga can survive the big shots that Canelo will be hitting him with in the early going. Canelo will unload on Berlanga if he starts fast and hits him with something big that angers him or gets his competitive instincts in gear.
It could be an early night if Berlanga comes out of the gate quickly because Canelo will be hitting him with shots he’s never experienced.
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