Diego Pacheco Wants The Winner Of Canelo Alvarez v Edgar Berlanga

Super-middleweight contender Diego Pacheco feels he should be fighting Edgar Berlanga with the winner facing Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez – but will happily face whoever is victorious in their bout.
Pacheco (21-0-0 17 KO) fights for the second time this year when he puts his WBC USA and WBO international super-middleweight titles on the line on August 31 against Maciej Sulecki in Carson, California.
Two weeks later, the 168lb division’s unified champion Canelo makes the fifth defense of his WBA, WBC, and WBO titles against Berlanga at the T Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. There has been plenty of negative reaction to Canelo’s latest matchup, with Berlanga viewed as too unproven at world level to mount a serious challenge against the Mexican great.
“I feel like I should’ve had that fight with Berlanga and then the winner could get Canelo or something like that. I feel like that would’ve been fair,” Pacheco, 23, said on the Flash Knockdown, adding that he didn’t begrudge Berlanga getting the opportunity to fight Canelo before him.
“Berlanga is already, like, 30 years old [Berlanga is 27]. And we’re basically at the same level, and there’s a big difference in years, so it’s OK for him to get that fight,” Pacheco said. “I guess the time is now for him. He’s in his prime. I hope he takes full advantage of it. I hope he makes the best of it. And yeah, I want the winner.”
And who does he expect the winner to be?
“I think Canelo will stop him,” Pacheco said. “I think Berlanga will maybe do better the first three rounds. I feel like once Canelo has found his rhythm and has found Berlanga’s timing, he’ll get him out of there.”
Any hopes of facing Canelo will depend on Pacheco maintaining his winning streak, starting against Sulecki next Saturday. The 33-year-old Polish fighter may be at the back end of his career but his only defeats have come against world champions Daniel Jacobs and Demetrius Andrade.
“He’s a good fighter. We actually had a few opponents on the list before him and the fight didn’t go through,” Pacheco said. “My team felt like Sulecki was just a good opponent. He’s been in a lot of tough fights. He’s been in a lot of world championship fights.
“He’s beat guys like [Gabriel] Rosado and a few other names. His only two losses are to world-class fighters like Andrade and Jacobs. He’s a tough veteran. I saw he was sparring with Canelo not too long ago. It’s going to be a good fight, and that’s what I’ve been training for. I’ve been training my ass off for a 12-round war. Hopefully he brings that.”
Similar to Berlanga, Pacheco has climbed to the top of the super-middleweight rankings without a big name on his record. His most recent fight was in April when he delivered a points win over the unbeaten Shawn McCalman.
“With the ratings coming out and me being the No 1 contender for Canelo, I feel like a lot of eyes will be on me,” he said.