Berlanga’s Trash Talk may have cost him his best chance to beat Canelo

Middleweight contender Kyrone Davis believes Edgar Berlanga messed up his best chance to beat Canelo Alvarez by driving him “crazy” ahead of their September 14 fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Edgar (22-0, 17 KOs) used his upbringing in Brooklyn, New York to create good trash talk, taking the promotion to the streets to drum up interest in the fight.

Berlanga’s hectic development

The downside of Berlanga’s criticism of Canelo is the anger it created in the proud fighter. No one talked as much trash as Berlanga to Canelo, and it heated him up. But even if Berlanga played it nice, he would still be out of his league in this fight because he didn’t have the experience for this level of fighter.

Berlanga was pushed into this battle by his promoters and management. It seems that from day one there was never any intention by his management to build his career as one would normally do.

Berlanga was brought along like Jaime Munguia by taking lower level opposition to create an undefeated record filled with tomato cans to get a massive money fight against Canelo.

If Berlanga’s management were serious about developing him, they would have matched him against fighters like David Morrell, David Benavidez, Caleb Plant, Jermall Charlo and Christian Mbilli.

Can Berlanga land the one-shot bomb?

“I don’t think Berlanga has much of a chance in that fight. I don’t think he’s going to win,” Kyrone Davis told the YSM Sports Media YouTube channel, talking about the Edgar Berlanga vs. Canelo Alvarez fight on September 14th.

“I think he’s going to try, but I don’t think it’s going to be enough. I’m hoping for a competitive fight because I love competitive fights. I don’t think it’s going to be very competitive. I think Canelo knows too much. He still has enough, and I think it’s going to be a bit too much for Berlanga,” says Berlanga.

Canelo’s ring experience puts him far ahead of the 27-year-old Berlanga, and it doesn’t matter that he’s much older than him at 34. The Mexican star has lost a lot of his game, but he still has the ring IQ to fall back on fighters like Berlanga to make up for what he’s lost in physical skills. Power is the last thing to go, and Canelo still packs a big punch and has good hand speed.

“You can always land something in a fight, but unless it’s a one-shot bomb,” Kyrone said. “Even if you hurt Canelo in the fight, Canelo will get through it and find a way to win. He knows how to do that kind of stuff.”

Berlanga has excellent strength, along with his size and youth. So, if he can land a big shot early in the fight, he has a chance to knock Canelo out.

Many of Berlanga’s knockouts came early in his fights, with him racing across the ring and landing hard blows on top of his opponent’s heads. However, Berlanga’s opposition has been formidable, and he has shown the ability to score knockouts since his promoters lined him up against C-level opposition.

He hasn’t fought a B-level guy like Caleb Plant, William Scull, Sergiy Derevyanchenko or Bektemir Melikuziev. There is too much chance that Berlanga will fall apart against some or all of those fighters.

“I don’t think that’s true. He (Berlanga) said the key to the fight is the IQ,” Kyrone said. “I think that’s true, but I don’t think it’s on his side, especially in this fight against a guy (Canelo) who has all the honors and has been in every kind of style. I don’t think that’s it.”

Berlanga’s comment that he believes he can win because of his ring IQ sounds like he took stuff he heard and threw it out there to make an argument for him winning. It must bother him that many boxing fans consider him dull-witted.

The damage is done

“I think the best shot he had was to keep Canelo asleep, and Canelo doesn’t train that hard,” Davis said. “I think it woke him up, and I think it’s probably not going to be good for him. A crazy Canelo is a focused Canelo.”

It’s too late for Berlanga to undo the damage he did with his trash talk to Canelo. He might as well keep it up trying to increase the PPV buy rate to ensure he makes more money from the fight. Even if Berlanga were to step up or smother Canelo with compliments leading up to the fight, it’s already too late. He cannot save himself.

“Some guys don’t fight well in anger. He fights well angry. I think he’s going to be in trouble. Six-round knockout,” Davis said when asked how the fight between Canelo and Berlanga ends. “Either or (systematic collapse or clean shot).”