LAS VEGAS – Canelo Alvarez is correct in saying that one of the trappings of his status as the world’s best-known fighter is that everyone is always asking who is next for him the second he dispatches an opponent.
This time, with him standing as a massive -1600 favorite over Edgar Berlanga, we decided to rush things along and ask Alvarez’s trainer/manager Eddy Reynoso if the next opponent is already in mind.
Terence Crawford?
“Too early,” Reynoso said.
Yet Reynoso was very clear that whichever promoter handles Alvarez’s next bout (Premier Boxing Champions, Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing or Turki Alalshikh’s Saudi Arabia-based Riyadh Season) and whomever he fights (Crawford, potential undisputed light heavyweight champions Dmitry Bivol or Artur Beterbiev), there is a solid, traditional date that awaits.
“Mayo,” the Spanish-speaking Reynoso said.
With the exception of the pandemic and a suspension, Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) has booked Cinco de Mayo weekend – the first Saturday of May – every year of the past decade.
At Friday’s ceremonial weigh-in, after Alvarez made weight for his three-belt, super middleweight title defense at 166.8 pounds and Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) came in at 167.7, Alvarez spoke of producing a memorable finish.
It was eight years ago that he opened T-Mobile Arena with a crushing sixth-round knockout of Amir Khan. Asked if he could duplicate that feat against Berlanga, he told BoxingScene, “I will.”
On stage, Alvarez told his overwhelming fan base, among a crowd of 1,000-plus, “For all of you out here, the only way I can repay you is with a victory Saturday night. I don’t have much to say about Berlanga. What I can tell you is that he’s about to face somebody who’s very, very different from what he’s accustomed to. … It’s going to be a party and a great night.”
Berlanga, with a Puerto Rican flag waving behind him, also expressed positivity during his remarks on stage.
Following Puerto Rican greats Felix Trinidad and Miguel Cotto on to a major pay-per-view is profound, he said.
“This is legendary and tomorrow’s history. All this right here, this comes with it. I’m going to be great tomorrow,” Berlanga said. “I belong here. I belong.
“It’s Canelo’s show, but, like always, we’re coming to kick the door in and destroy the party. Knockout, then a rematch and we’re bringing it to New York for Puerto Rican Day weekend.”
As Alvarez knows, that can’t happen.
He returns in Mayo.
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.
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