Caleb Plant has advice for Edgar Berlanga before his fight against Canelo Alvarez on September 14th. He suggests he focus on Canelo, not on himself, as he did during their Los Angeles press conference on Tuesday.
(Credit: Esther Lin/Premier Boxing Champions)
Berlanga’s Distracted Behavior
Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) traded words with the former IBF super middleweight champion Plant while he was in the audience during the press conference, causing Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs) to come to his defense surprisingly.
The New Yorker Berlanga seems distracted since getting the Canelo fight, perhaps due to the criticism he’s getting from people about him being unworthy of the title shot and having no chance of winning.
Berlanga will fight Canelo for his WBA, WBC, and WBO super middleweight titles on September 14th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The event will be shown live on PBS Prime Video and DAZN PPV.
“I’m watching the press conference, and he’s focused on me. He needs to focus on what’s in front of him because he’s got a full plate in front of him, and he seems distracted,” said Caleb Plant to Fight Hub TV, referring to Edgar Berlanga’s need to focus on Canelo Alvarez, not him, ahead of September 14th.
Questionable Ranking and Canelo’s Choice
It wouldn’t be an issue if Berlanga had more experience going into this fight, but the World Boxing Association surprisingly moved him to the #1 slot after his win over Padraig McCrory last February. So here Berlanga is, getting a title shot after passing up on a fight against David Morrell, and he’s not ready.
“That shows he hasn’t been at this level before. You need to focus on what’s in front of you because then you look up, and there’s nothing in front of you. It speaks to his experience level,” Plant continued about Berlanga.
Plant should criticize Canelo for Berlanga’s getting this opportunity because he chose him. Yeah, the WBA shouldn’t have given Berlanga a #1 ranking based on a win over 36-year-old McCory, but even with them doing that, Canelo chose to fight him.
“Yeah, he packs a big punch, but everybody at 168 packs a big punch,” said Plant about Berlanga. “There was a fighter once upon a time that said I couldn’t punch. ‘What are you going to do? Run me around the ring until I get tired?’
“He wound up getting his grave dug, and I wound up getting ‘Knock out of the Year,’” said Plant, making a big deal about his knockout of then 38-year-old Anthony Dirrell in 2022. Dirrell was way past his prime when he fought Plant.
Berlanga’s Lack of “IQ”
Berlanga does have good power, but he doesn’t have a great chin and gets frustrated when he gets hit. We saw him appear to bite Roamer Alexis Angulo in their fight in 2022, and he was dropped by Marcelo Esteban Coceres in 2021.
“Everybody at 168 hits hard. You got to bring something else to the table. Berlanga spoke to that, saying it takes IQ. It’s unfortunate to him that he doesn’t have much of that,” said Plant.
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