Promoter Oscar De La Hoya took a verbal shot at Canelo Alvarez during his ‘Clap Back Thursdays’ episode, belittling him for choosing Edgar Berlanga for his next title defense on September 14th in Las Vegas.
De La Hoya Predicts Canelo Boycott
Many boxing fans view Berlanga as a hype job who doesn’t rate a title shot against Canelo. De La Hoya said that fans are starting to “boycott Canelo” due to his ducking David Benavidez, who has already given up on trying to fight him and has moved up to 175.
Oscar states that Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) will need “luck” with his fight against Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs), competing with the UFC on September 14th.
The revenue that WBA/WBC/WBO super middleweight champion Canelo will lose out on from ticket sales is just the tip of the iceberg. The UFC event will also likely impact the Canelo-Berlanga PPV numbers.
“The September 14th fight has been made. Canelo vs. Edgar Berlanga, a fight that nobody asked for. Fans are beginning to boycott Canelo for continuing to duck you know who,” said Oscar De La Hoya on his Clap Back Thursdays, reacting to the news of Canelo Alvarez defending his three super middleweight titles against Edgar Berlanga on September 14th.
Berlanga has been in the pipeline for a fight against Canelo since Eddie Hearn signed him last year. Immediately after signing the New Yorker Berlanga, Hearn began discussing wanting to match him against Canelo.
It’s too bad Hearn didn’t at least match Berlanga against a credible contender for him to earn the Canelo fight instead of having it given to him after wins over these two lesser British fighters:
– Padraig McCrory
– Jason Quigley.
“Also, they’re going up against the UFC at The Sphere. Good luck with making a splash with that one” said De La Hoya.
It’s going to be difficult for Canelo to sell out the 20,000-seat T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on September 14th because Berlanga isn’t a fight that fans are excited about. Berlanga is from New York, where his large Puerto Rican fanbase is located.
Berlanga’s Bitter Announcement
“This is Edgar Berlanga. I want to tell my fight fans that we got the fight. Berlanga vs. Canelo, live on September 14th in Las Vegas on PPV. For you haters, you’re going to eat your words,” said Berlanga on social media, announcing his fight against Canelo.
Berlanga sounded angry and bitter today in his message to fans about him getting the fight against Canelo. Instead of being happy and upbeat about him finally getting “that bag” that he’s been chirping about for the last year, Berlanga sounded venomous.
“Don’t sleep on me because you’re going to be sleeping for a very long time. Knockout season. Fireworks. You know how we coming. Big New York,” said Berlanga, sounding like he’s got a chip on his shoulder about fans viewing him as a hype job that Canelo has picked out to get an easy win.
Berlanga’s message to his fans would mean something if he had the talent to fulfill his remarks, but he doesn’t. He barely beat second-tier fighters Steve Rolls, Roamer Alexis Angulo, and Marcelo Conceres. Those three fights showed that Berlanga has meager talent and doesn’t belong fighting for a world title against Canelo.
When Berlanga had the chance to challenge David Morrell Jr. for his WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight title earlier this year, he passed it up, saying he wanted to wait on a bigger fight against Canelo. If Berlanga believed in himself, he would have fought Morrell instead of sitting and waiting for the Canelo fight to full into his lap.
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