Canelo Alvarez And Edgar Berlanga Both Vow Knockout Wins After Making Weight
Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Edgar Berlanga have promised to knock each other out after both fighters made weight on Friday for their unified super-middleweight title fight.
Canelo (61-2-2 39 KO) will put his WBC, WBA, and WBO belts on the line on Saturday night at the T Mobile Arena in Las Vegas against leading contender Berlanga (22-0-0 17 KO). The fight was officially confirmed when both fighters came in under the 168lb limit, with champion Alvarez tipping the scales at 166.75lbs and Berlanga weighing in at 167.5lbs.
Saturday’s fight will be Canelo’s ninth successive super-middleweight world title fight, dating back to December 2020 when the Mexican defeated Callum Smith to claim the Briton’s WBA belt and the vacant WBC strap. He defeated another British fighter, Billy Joe Saunders, two fights later in May 2021 to claim the WBO belt before becoming undisputed champion six months later by stopping IBF title holder Caleb Plant in the 11th round.
Canelo’s only defeat in that time came in May 2022 when he made an ambitious climb to light-heavyweight to challenge WBA champion Dimitrii Bivol, but the Russian produced a superb display to defeat Alvarez on points and retain his belt.
Since then, Alvarez has put together a four-fight winning run, including completing his trilogy with Gennady Golovkin, but the 33-year-old has received a fair bit of criticism for his choice of opponents. That criticism only increased after selecting Berlanga as his next fight, but the Mexican has vowed to deliver the fireworks in Vegas.
“It’s easy to say you’ll knock me out, but it’s much more difficult to do it,” Canelo said ahead of his fight on Mexican Independence Day weekend. “Saturday night is gonna be very difficult for him, for sure. I’ve prepared for the knockout.
“I love the feeling of a knockout and I’m gonna do my best to get it done. I just can’t wait for Saturday night. This is going to be a great matchup for the people. Mexico vs Puerto Rico is always exciting. It’s an honor to fight on this date.”
Indeed, the latest instalment of Mexico vs Puerto Rico continues a long and storied rivalry between two nations with proud boxing histories. Canelo remains the massive favorite against Berlanga, who will contest his first world title fight and has never fought anyone close to the champion’s caliber.
However, the 27-year-old from New York insisted after the weigh-in that he is more than ready for the occasion and will deliver an upset victory.
“It’s a war tomorrow. Puerto Rico vs Mexico … I love all this right here. It’s all fuel for me. I belong here, you hear me? I belong here,” Berlanga said, before adding when asked for his prediction: “Knockout. And then the rematch, we’re bringing it to New York. Puerto Rican Day weekend.”
All the fights on the undercard will also go ahead as planned after each fighter made weight. The co-main event will see WBA middleweight title holder Erislandy Lara defend his belt against Garcia, who is ending a two-year break in a bid to become a three-weight world champion.
Before then, former super-middleweight world champion Plant takes on the unbeaten Trevor McCumby, while Rolando Romero, who recently held the WBA super-lightweight title, fights Manuel Jaimes.
