Edgar Berlanga has revealed his plan to get a quick rematch with Canelo Alvarez by capturing the IBF super middleweight title. It’s a sneaky, weasel-like strategy that Berlanga has come up with, with almost no chance of success in getting the rematch with Canelo.
It’s unclear whether Berlanga cooked up the idea himself or whether his management came up with it to get a quick second payday fight against Canelo, but it seems half-baked.
Matchroom-promoted Berlanga believes that if he can win the IBF belt, he and Canelo could meet for the undisputed 168-lb championship next year.
The American boxing public doesn’t care that much about titles. They want to see big fights between popular fighters who win one-sided fights, not lose, like we saw last night with Berlanga. After his loss to Canelo, Berlanga needs to do much more than just win the IBF title to get a rematch with the Mexican star.
Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) was knocked out last Saturday night, losing a wide 12-round unanimous decision to WBA, WBC and WBO super middleweight champion Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The scores were 118-109, 118-109 and 117-110. Berlanga mostly threw punches and was unwilling to throw power punches. Berlanga showed a good chin as he soaked up a lot of hard punches from Canelo. One reason for that was Berlanga’s size.
Edgar looked like a light heavyweight in the ring last night and had a huge advantage over Canelo. The extra weight allowed Berlanga to take shots that he wouldn’t be able to take if he were to fight Artur Beterbiev in the 175-lb division. As Berlanga fought last night, Artur Beterbiev would knock him out in three rounds.
Berlanga feels he fought well enough that fans will want to see him and Canelo next year.
Berlanga looks to take a shortcut to a quick rematch against Canelo for a second huge payday by capturing the IBF title by beating the winner of the October 19th fight between William Scull and Vladimir Shishkin.
It’s understandable why Berlanga is targeting the IBF title as a backdoor route to a lucrative rematch against Canelo. These two fighters, Shishkin and Scull, are very beatable and will likely lose to many of the top 10 contenders.
#1 Scull and #2 Shishkin meet for the vacant IBF 168-lb title next month on October 19 in Germany. If Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn can set up a fight between the winner of that fight and Berlanga, the New Yorker could potentially capture the IBF title.
Even with the IBF title, Berlanga’s popularity will not increase much because Scull and Shishkin are not known to American fans. Berlanga needs to do a lot more than just beat the likes of Scull or Shishkin to quickly increase interest in a second fight with Canelo.
Alvarez will lose money fighting Berlanga again because a rematch won’t sell to the American public after what they saw last Saturday night. Berlanga lost every round of the fight and was like an overmatched punching bag. He wasn’t the next Gennadiy Golovkin or Miguel Cotto. He was Munguia 2.0, and fans don’t want to pay to watch a rematch between Canelo and him either.
“I know the IBF is out there. So whoever wins the IBF, I’d like to fight the winner of them. I think it’s (Vladimir) Shishkin and William Scull fighting for the IBF. So whoever wins it, I’d like to go grab that title, and then see if we can do a rematch with Canelo next year for the undisputed,” Edgar Berlanga told the Matchroom Boxing. channel about his plans after his loss to Canelo Alvarez last Saturday night.
To capture the IBF super middleweight title against the obscure fighters, neither Scull nor Shishkin will be enough for Berlanga to get a quick rematch against Canelo. Unless the Mexican superstar is feeling generous and wants to help Berlanga, he can make more money fighting other fighters.
The fights Canelo fans want to see:
- David Benavidez
- Terence Crawford
- Dmitri Bivol vs Artur Beterbiev winner
“I know he (Canelo) will give me an opportunity. It was a great fight. So, I’m going to talk to him to see if he can wait and let me try to beat one of these guys. Capture the IBF so I can be world champion, and we can now have an undisputed real run,” said Berlanga.
You can understand why Berlanga would want a second payday against Canelo, but you have to earn it. Going the easy route to get that second mega-million payday is poor. If Berlanga wants the rematch with Canelo, he must be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice by taking on David Benavidez, David Morrell, Beterbiev, Bivol, Christian Mbilli or Osleys Iglesias.
“I already got the experience. I need to feel his power. He had to feel my power, and it was going to be a big fight.”
