Edgar Berlanga undoubtedly knows how to talk the talk.
It’s one of the primary reasons the Brooklyn fighter with a loaded right hand and Puerto Rican blood in his veins has landed Saturday’s rich date against Mexico’s four-division and three-belt super-middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez.
Berlanga, 27, leaned into those verbal gifts to annoy Alvarez during their news-conference stop in Southern California last month, and he’s not expected to tone it down at Tuesday’s grand arrivals in Las Vegas, Wednesday’s news conference or Friday’s weigh-in.
Instead of bowing in respect to Alvarez, 34, for gracing the unbeaten challenger with a record high seven-figure purse, Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) verbally sparred with the decorated champion over the issue of respect.
“It’s war time. It’s real now. You want to take my head off and I want to do the same to you,” Berlanga told me in a PPV.COM interview.
“How can I respect a guy I want to kill? I need to respect a guy? Get out of here, man. You don’t do that. We come from the streets so … that right there (the onstage scuffle) … respect that guy? I want to shoot that guy but I respect him? You’re not doing that. You have to have no remorse, no respect.”
Berlanga is the one used to laying waste to the competition. He won his first 16 fights by first-round knockout. But then the level of competition increased, the fights went longer and frustration built to the point two years ago that he bit opponent Roamer Alexis Angulo on the shoulder for taking him the distance.
A promotional change and a reunion with his trainer came before Berlanga returned to form with a sixth-round knockout of veteran Padraig McCrory in February.
And Berlanga dutifully expressed interest in fighting Alvarez as he surfaced as WBA mandatory contender and as a possible next foe before Alvarez’s unanimous-decision victory over another 27-year-old unbeaten, Jaime Munguia, in May.
Through a tense negotiating period, Berlanga emerged as Alvarez’s choice.
“Once this fight is signed, there’s no more Mr. Nice Guy, because once that bell (tolls) for that first round, it’s on,” Berlanga said.
If anyone treats that first bell like Pavlov’s dog, it’s Berlanga.
But now, as an 8/1 underdog to -1600 betting favorite Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs), will Berlanga pursue the distinguished with the same reckless abandon he displayed through those first 16 knockouts?
“Anything can happen,” Berlanga said of chasing a first-round knockout. “He knows that and I know that if I’m not alert, he can knock me out in the first round, too. In our weight class, everybody can punch, so you have to be alert at all times. If you lose focus for one second, that punch you don’t see can be the one that gets you.
“This is a violent sport. People die in the ring – seven, eight deaths a year in boxing. Anything can happen. So I take this sh*t personal. It’s not just me saying it now. I’ve said it my whole career.
“It’s either me or you.”
The fact that it’s Mexico vs. Puerto Rico stirs Berlanga. He spoke of being moved by the heroic effort of Puerto Rico’s Hall of Fame fighter Miguel Cotto, who was unfairly battered by the plaster-loaded handwraps of Mexico’s Antonio Margarito in 2008 only to gain revenge with a 2011 victory by beating at Madison Square Garden.
“The Mexican fighters can’t (mess) with Puerto Rican fighters. We’ve got too much skill,” Berlanga said.
“The only reason Margarito did what he did to Cotto the first time is because he was cheating. He had a cast in his glove. He broke Cotto’s face up in that (first) fight, but Cotto was winning that fight. Easy. You saw what Cotto did in the next fight? He busted that ass.”
When someone told Berlanga, Puerto Rican fighters have an edge over Mexicans in the all-time series, Berlanga said, “I’m just glad to be here. It’s another one for the history books. This fight’s going to be interesting.”
And it was at that point in the conversation where the Edgar Berlanga who was on stage, the one who feels compelled to show Alvarez he’s not in awe, stripped down to the essence of this bout he’s headed to.
He’s never won a title, has 424 less rounds of pro experience and has never stepped into a scene like the one that awaits him at T-Mobile Arena, where Fat Joe will walk Berlanga out to the fateful ring.
“Alvarez’s) heart’s going to beat like this …,” Berlanga said, pulling back and forth on the front of his shirt and rattling his own gold chains rattle. “Mine too. But it’s not because of fear. It’s because I’m ready.”
He took a deep breath to simulate what he’ll likely do when his eyes sharpen on the red-haired champion across from him.
“The moment’s here now. You’ve got to embrace it. The fans are going to be screaming. I’m going to be locked in on him,” Berlanga said.
“It’s like the gladiators. When you go fight, you’ve got the arena, and you go in there to kill each other. That’s the mindset I’ve got. I’ve got to block everything out. Even the walkout. My mindset is on that guy.
“Because I’m fighting a legend. I’m not fighting a bum. I’m not fighting the guy I fought last time. I’m fighting a guy that’s been up there with the best. Numerous times.
“This has got to be on … another level.”
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