By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing
Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum believes WBA #6, WBO #7 super middleweight Edgar Berlanga (17-0, 16 KOs) could be the one to eventually derail WBC, WBA, WBO super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez (56-1-2, 38 KOs), but not yet. “I don’t think anybody beats Canelo,” Arum told SkySports. “He’s just that good. Maybe in two years or a year and a half, Berlanga [could].”
Arum said Berlanga will next appear on the October 9 Fury-Wilder undercard, then on December 11 in New York City, and finally invade Puerto Rico early next year. “He is a New Yorker of Puerto Rican origin,” said Arum. “He will fight in Puerto Rico where he is enormously popular.”
Berlanga has enormous power but he lacks the ability to mixed up w/ Canelo.
I enjoy watching Berlanga fight. I’m not going to speculate if / when he can beat Saul Alvarez.
Not all that impressed with his wild style. He can crack but his defense is suspect.
Berlanga needs to mature a little bit. He’s extremely heavy handed. He has good hand eye coordination, he can punch accurately when he is patient. But he’s inexperienced. I think he could probably be very good, maybe one of the best but he’s not there yet by a long shot. If he managed right and keeps disciplined then he has a chance at being a Rosario, Gomez , Trinidad etc.. if he’s managed poorly maybe he could still be a JuanMa or a Cintron. If hes undisciplined in the gym or in his life itll be over before he knows it.
And Arums word is worthless. We just haven’t seen enough yet to know what the kid has but Arum will say anything to make a buck off the kid whether he’s good or not.
Spot on Phil!!! He’ll never eclipse Trinidad for sure!!
Exactly right Phil, Arum is expected to say this no matter if he believes it or not. Bet Lang’s is not ready .
If Arum showed this much interest and hyped up Terrance Crawford as he’s hyping up Berlanga, he would have been a PPV star years ago. Arum says he’s worthless in the open. The last boxer he said was worthless turned out to be PPV king. He’s the promoter!! Why not hype up your most talented guy??
I’m becoming more bullshitish on Berlanga. I was a big fan of Berlanga, but he’s too inactive for an up and comer. Fighting once every 4,5 months is too infrequent at this stage of his career; especially considering since until his last one, they were all first round KO’s. He lives the life of a celebrity before earning it in the ring. In his last fight he was dominant against a credible Nicholson, but he did take some big shots. After all, it is boxing! I’m still a fan and not saying he won’t be a champion for years to come, but he needs to realize he ain’t there yet.
The biggest difference between Berlanga & Crawford is that Berlanga seems to have a personality, whereas Crawford is boring. Unfortunately, personality sells fights. Everybody in the world has heard of Jake Paul, but no one outside of Nebraska & the boxing community even knows who Crawford is. Arum can only do so much to get people to want to lay down PPV money for Crawford; the fighter needs to do make people want to watch him.
Everyone is not interested in acquiring the attention of Jake Paul. Everyone’s priorities are different. Some people, like Crawford, like being low-key. If dying your hair different colors and getting tatoos and piercings all over your body and doing corny rap videos in mockery of the true artform sells, than so be it. Some people choose to live in the mountains secluded from everyone and meditate living off the earth, they don’t need or desire attention. In terms of Berlanga, IMO he’s overatted and will be exposed (was already somewhat exposed against Nicholson); no knock against him, he’s not well rounded enough or seems to have the propensity to become as well rounded as Canelo. There is more to boxing than power, which will only take you so far.
You could not have said it better!! Berlanga needs lots of training and discipline. Good point!
I would like to see Berlanga vs David Lemieux!
That’s a really good fight! Would be an absolute war for as long as it lasted.
Yes, that would be an interesting matchup. It’s funny though how matching up two KO artsis looks great on paper but usually end up as duds. I would favor Berlanga in that one. Lemieux is the type of guy that looks great against 2nd tier competition, yet faulters when put in deep.
That’s a good point and I also think Berlanga would win, but to Lemieux’s credit, when he’s in against other punchers, he usually makes for a good fight. Win or lose, he stood there and fought GGG, Curtis Stevens, Rubio etc. even when it wasn’t the wisest idea.
I doubt Canelo would fight him anyways. If I were a promoter I’d have them
Both fight next December at 168 and both must weigh in on the day of the fight.
His skillset cannot match canelos. Now If he catches canelo he can send his head to the bleachers but skills pays the bills and I dont see him outboxing canelo ever.
Canelo has an excellent chin & solid defense. Canelo will pick apart Berlanga before stopping him in a great fight!
Canelo is in my opinion is one of the best fighters ever to lace up boxing gloves. Berlanga has yet to prove that he can take a punch and his last fight he was gassed. He needs more time but not against canelo. Not now or even a year from now.
110%!!!
ABSOLUTELY 110%!!!