Edgar Berlanga has made it clear that he intends to start fast against superstar Canelo Alvarez, destroying him within six rounds to capture his three super middleweight titles on September 14.
Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) predicted a six-round knockout of Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) and it doesn’t look like he’s kidding. He wants to dethrone Canelo in their main line up DAZN PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. This is a fight where the New Yorker Berlanga is ready to risk everything and go out on his shield if necessary to win.
This opportunity will not come again for Berlanga, so he must take a scorching early approach to win and not allow Canelo to rest during any moments in the fight. A quick pace has always been Canelo’s kryptonite, and it’s Berlanga’s specialty.
Berlanga’s All-or-Nothing approach
“He burned the bridge behind him. He must enter all—scorched earth. I burned everything behind me; I have to go forward. ‘I’m the bad guy now,’ that’s Berlanga’s point of view,” Chris Algieri told Probox TV YouTube channel about Edgar Berlanga, who predicted a sixth round knockout of Canelo Alvarez on September 14th.
“What if Berlanga talked himself into being that guy? Maybe he’s not that guy now. He never had to be that guy. He develops. He might turn into that guy. He may deceive himself. Delusion is a beautiful thing, especially when it works and turns out to be true,” Algieri said.
It’s not a case of Berlanga talking himself into being aggressive. He knows what’s at stake in this fight, so he’ll give it his all, because if he wins, he’ll make so much money, and he wants to change from that moment on. His team has clearly vetted Canelo well, and they know what will work for him. Starting slow is not an option against Canelo as he is at his best in the first six rounds and will destroy Berlanga if he fights carefully.
“That’s why he says if he wins, he’s going back to Puerto Rico, and he’s going to be a king. He’s right, but you have to go out there and do it. I think Berlanga, with his size, his youth and his ability to start fast in fights. He has 16 first round KOs. Canelo starts slow, and he throws less and less punches the older he gets,” Algieri said.
Canelo’s Kryptonite: The Fast Pace
To get away early to fight aggressively, Berlanga will have to withstand some big shots from Canelo, which won’t be easy. Even Gennadiy Golovkin was reluctant to go out with Canelo in his three fights, knowing he could be clipped. Berlanga hasn’t shown the greatest chin during his short career, but perhaps the excitement of the moment will allow him to walk through fire early on September 14.
“There’s going to be opportunities early on if Berlanga fights without fear and he goes straight after Canelo and has the idea, ‘I’ve got nothing to lose here,’ we could have some interesting moments early on.”
“The fight can be a lot more entertaining than people think. I don’t think Edgar goes there to lay down. I think he’s actually going to fight and go out on his shield like he says, and we know how Canelo is going to react. It’s going to be a more interesting fight than people might say,” Algieri said.
Berlanga has decided that he will go all out and try to knock Canelo out early in the match because he knows it is his best chance. It may be too late if the speedy starter, Berlanga, waits until the second half of the fight to start putting it on Canelo. Canelo will have figured him out and taken him out with something big.
