In the long, dramatic horse race that saw the obvious favorite barred from entering, perhaps the most deserving longshot is poised to cross the wire first in the Canelo Alvarez derby.
Edgar Berlanga Jr., an unbeaten possessing one-punch power and Puerto Rican blood in his veins, is in the final stages of emerging as Alvarez’s Sept. 14 Mexican Independence weekend opponent at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, multiple sources have told BoxingScene during the past week.
“Berlanga will be a live dog. He won’t run. He’s going to go for it – if he goes down, he’ll go down fighting and put on a show,” said Garry Jonas, the CEO of ProBox TV and BoxingScene who previously managed Berlanga and now serves as a supporter/observer to the fighter while he trains at Jonas’ ProBox boxing facility in Plant City, Florida.
Described by insiders at times as a “heated negotiation," Alvarez and Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) flirted with an alternate candidate, England’s Chris Eubank Jr., in what was ultimately viewed as a “negotiating tactic,” according to officials familiar with the talks.
One official described the deal Wednesday as “done,” awaiting Alvarez’s formal announcement.
Brooklyn’s charismatic 27-year-old Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) burst upon the scene by posting 16 consecutive first-round knockouts while fighting under the Top Rank promotional banner before falling out of favor during five consecutive bouts that went the distance, including one in which Berlanga was knocked down.
Berlanga returned to the ring Feb. 24 in Orlando and knocked out little-known Padraig McCrory in the sixth round, a showing good enough for WBA President Gilberto Mendoza to elevate Berlanga to mandatory contender in his ratings.
That was a dubious, eye-rolling event given the presence of unbeaten former WBC super middleweight titleholder David Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) in the division, along with another unbeaten, Christian Mbilli (27-0, 23 KOs), and even the first-in-line mandatory for undisputed champion Alvarez, the IBF’s top-ranked William Scull (22-0), of Cuba.
Saying he won’t fight Benavidez for less than $150 million, Mexico’s 34-year–old Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) temporarily put Scull on pause and is moving to select Berlanga over Eubank, who offered the possibility of creating a first-ever Alvarez card in the U.K.
Returning to Las Vegas for an Amazon Prime Video pay-per-view fight that will also be offered by the broadcast partner of Berlanga promoter Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Promotions, DAZN, Alvarez will now be in competition for combat-sports fans’ buys against UFC 306, hyped by company president Dana White as an extraordinary debut for the organization at the new Las Vegas Sphere.
Alvarez generated just more than 500,000 pay-per-view buys for his May 4 unanimous decision victory over countryman Jaime Munguia.
While an Alvarez fight on a Mexican holiday carries cachet, his fans have increasingly expressed fatigue over him avoiding the marquee fight against Benavidez, 27.
Nevertheless, Jonas expects Alvarez to again fare well with pay-per-view buyers, calling the UFC counter-programming a “non-issue.”
“Mexican Independence [Day weekend] is a boxing tradition," Jonas said. "The UFC can still sell out its arena, but anyone coming to buy tickets for Canelo was not going to be buying tickets for the UFC. No one’s knocking the UFC, but boxing’s fan base will stick to its tradition. … This is like challenging tennis in New York on Labor Day or the Masters in April. You’re talking about tradition here.”
As for the fight, Jonas sees Berlanga as a mirror-image “bookend” foe to the aggressive Munguia, given his similar age and talent, maintaining that Berlanga would’ve also defeated recent Munguia foes Sergiy Derevyanchenko and John Ryder, and will also produce lively action.
The twist with Berlanga is the zest of his Puerto Rican heritage.
“I actually think Berlanga’s buys will be more than Munguia’s,” Jonas said. “Canelo-Munguia was the same audience. Berlanga-Canelo – Puerto Rico versus Mexico – makes far more sense. It’ll be entertaining, a fiesta for the Puerto Rican fans hoping Berlanga can step up while it’s always fun for the Mexicans to watch one of their fighters beat up a Puerto Rican.”
Alvarez-Berlanga nears with Benavidez, 27, perhaps angling to supplant Alvarez, 34, as the new headliner to these Mexican holiday cards that have previously featured Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
On Tuesday, Benavidez opted to stop “wasting his time” waiting for Alvarez as WBC super middleweight mandatory contender and chose to be next in line for the winner of October’s undisputed light heavyweight title fight between champions Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
Benavidez’s promoter, Sampson Lewkowicz, said his fighter then wants to meet the winner on Cinco de Mayo weekend next year, a highly bold move.
Alvarez is working on his own big plans.
The Berlanga bout arrives one month and 11 days after undefeated Terence Crawford seeks to become a four-division champion against WBA junior middleweight titleholder Israil Madrimov in Los Angeles on Aug. 3.
Should Crawford and Alvarez each win, Saudi Arabia’s powerful boxing broker Turki Alalshikh has said he wants to stage Alvarez-Crawford.
In other words, it behooves everyone involved to put on their best show.
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