Edgar Berlanga is not worried about the punching power of Canelo Alvarez for the main event this Saturday. Berlanga says he’s been hit by big punches before, after sparring with heavyweights, so he knows he can take Canelo’s power.
(Credit: Rey Del Rio/Premier Boxing Champions)
Unified super middleweight champion Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs) is predicting a knockout in the eighth round of his title defense against Berlanga this Saturday, Sept. 14, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
It will be a long night for Canelo if he can’t get the KO because Berlanga is a dangerous puncher, and he will be pure trouble if he hangs around in the later rounds.
Canelo’s weak gas tank
Canelo usually fades in the second half of his fights, and we’ve seen that in his last five fights against Jaime Munguia, Jermell Charlo, John Ryder, Gennady Golovkin and Dmitry Bivol. Alvarez had nothing left in the last four to six rounds of those fights and was lucky not to land a punch.
Golovkin had the power to hurt Canelo but surprisingly boxed him instead of going for the knockout, which he should have done in their third fight in September 2022.
Berlanga is not going to try to box Canelo. He’ll be gunning for the knockout because it’s his Super Bowl, and he knows that if it goes to the scorecards, he probably won’t get a decision against the Mexican star.
What Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) feels is important is staying “vigilant” to ensure he sees the punches coming because, as he points out, it’s the shots you don’t see that hurt you. This goes for every fighter.
It’s often the punches that fighters don’t see that hurt them, and that’s why counterpunchers or fast speed score a lot of knockouts.
“Do you think someone like him beat you?” DAZN commentator Chris Mannix told Edgar Berlanga about his fight against Canelo Alvarez.
Berlanga will be on hyper alert
“You know the punch that hurts you is the punch you don’t see. So, I have to be awake. At that weight, everyone can hit hard. Anybody can hit at 168, 175. If you don’t see the shot coming, and you’re not awake, and you get hit, you go down. I don’t care who you are. So, it’s about this (mind) and being alert,” Berlanga said.
In Berlanga’s fights against the drifter Alexis Angulo and Steve Rolls, he was hit with big shots that would have knocked out anyone in the super middleweight division. He took the punches well, because he saw them coming, and he could prepare for them. Rolls and Angulo hit just as hard as Canelo, bigger than him.
Ready to silence the doubters 🤫 @EdgarBerlangaJr #CaneloBerlanga | 14 Sep | Live on DAZN: Click link in bio to buy 🥊 pic.twitter.com/ee8OSod30p
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) September 11, 2024
