Former commentator Jim Lampley says Canelo Alvarez is in a position where the fans will be disappointed if he doesn’t score an early to mid-round knockout of Edgar Berlanga on Saturday.
Berlanga: The Chosen Challenger
Lampley points out that Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs) failed to pick the three fighters fans wanted to see him face: David Benavidez, David Morrell and Terence Crawford.
The Mexican star’s decision to pick Berlanga (22-0 17 KOs) puts him in a position where he has to knock him out early, but even if he does, he won’t receive massive credit because he doesn’t stand before one of the elite.
As Lampley notes, Berlanga’s 16 first-round knockouts early in his career were a product of matchups. Berlanga was matched by his previous promoters on Top Rank to build a record that looked good at first but was 100% void of quality opposition.
Yet Berlanga chose to leave them when they saw him struggling when they took him on against slightly better opposition.
When Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn signed Berlanga, he continued the matchups Top Rank started his career with and then worked to get him the title shot against WBA, WBC and WBO super middleweight champion Canelo.
Berlanga is not ready for battle, but no one expects him to be. This is business: a fight sold to the unwitting public involving a fighter with a stellar record who has a huge following in parts of New York City.
“Canelo has put himself in a position where anything other than a mid-round knockout based on his skill and remaining power will be a disappointment,” Jim Lampley told the Sean Zittel. YouTube channel, talks about the mindset of Canelo Alvarez defending against the inexperienced Edgar Berlanga on Saturday night
Canelo is starting to show age, and he hasn’t knocked anyone out in three years since his 11th-round TKO victory over Caleb Plant on November 6, 2021. Alvarez’s inability to knock out John Ryder and Jaime Munguia has recently shown that he can’t score. interruptions as he once did. So what we’ll likely see on Saturday is Canelo going the 12-round distance against Berlanga in a tougher fight than expected.
“He has to have a spectacular performance against Berlanga or it’s a failed enterprise,” Lampley said of Canelo. “If he goes the full distance and wins a clear decision, it won’t satisfy the crowd,” Lampley said of Canelo.
“If he knocks out Berlanga in four or five rounds, that helps; it will be another positive addition to the resume. But also, to a certain extent, that is what is expected. A tenth round knockout, that’s expected,” says Lampley.
Berlanga wants to use his jab to follow Dmitry Bivol’s blueprint to defeat Canelo on May 7, 2022. Bivol used more than just jabs to win that fight, but Berlanga seems more focused on his ability to stay on the outside and not get hit.
Berlanga knows all he has to do is win, and it doesn’t matter if it goes the 12-round distance. He will make a ton of money in the rematch with Canelo and will have plenty of other high-paying fights lined up for him.
“The bottom line is he’s not fighting David Morrell, David Benavidez or Terence Crawford. He is not fighting any of the people who would have ranked above Berlanga on the opponent’s scale. It’s curious to me that choice he made,” says Lampley.
Canelo didn’t want to fight Morrell, Benavidez and Crawford. They would have been bigger fights for sure, but they would have been risky for Canelo, and he could have lost. So he chose Berlanga instead, a no-whore, one slight step above a tomato can. He is not that type of fighter and has no chance of beating Canelo unless he gets old overnight.
“I expect a spirited effort from Berlanga in this fight, and I expect him to use the tools he has. Basically, a straight forward, predictable punch is not an ability obscured by nuance or variety or all the sophisticated ways a puncher sets up his job,” Lampley said.
If Berlanga chooses to box, it won’t be a spirited effort against Canelo as he won’t want to take a risk, especially after tasting his power early. Berlanga doesn’t have the biggest chin, and he can’t take the kind of power punches from Canelo without getting knocked out or dropped multiple times.
We saw Marcelo knock down Esteban Berlanga, and that guy is a C-level fighter. Steve Rolls and Roamer Alexis Angulo also gave Berlanga big problems.
“In his first 16 first-round knockouts starting his career, it was an extremely striking performance, but it was striking because of the sheer information.
“First 16 first-round knockouts in a row, but once you get past that and start analyzing, most boxing experts come to the conclusion that it’s matches,” Lampley said of Berlanga’s record.
Berlanga’s 16 first-round knockouts were against lesser opposition, but all you have to do is look at who he’s fought and check their resumes. They were awful.
It was strange that Top Rank didn’t make any effort to match him against slightly better opposition until his 17th fight, and even then they were still poor fighters. Why have they been so slow to match Berlanga against better opposition? The impression fans have is that they are trying to create a fake star to market him.
