Edgar Berlanga has been handing out cash to fans on the beach this week while on vacation in Mexico, still celebrating his big windfall against unified three-belt super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez on September 14.
It’s unclear whether the people who handed Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) money on the beach were actual fans of his. Berlanga is clever in using this strategy of handing over dough for photo-op purposes to give the illusion that he is being worshipped.
Berlanga is estimated to have made $1 million to $3 million for the fight. There is no estimate of what Berlanga received in terms of PPV upside. Apparently it brought in 650,000 purchases on DAZN PPVwhich are excellent numbers.
Last month, Canelo defeated the 27-year-old Berlanga by a wide 12-round unanimous decision at the T-Mobile Arena. Despite Canelo’s size disadvantage, he outboxed the massive Berlanga and won by scores of 118-109, 117-110 and 118-109.
Berlanga’s Road to Canelo Rematch
The Brooklyn, New York native Berlanga hope to face #2 WBC Jaime Munguia next on PPV in another Mexico vs. Puerto Rico match Berlanga believes a win over Munguia (44-1, 35 KOs) will put him in position for a rematch with Canelo.
Berlanga’s other plan is to defeat Munguia and then capture the IBF belt from William Scull. With wins over Munguia and Scull, Berlanga would be better positioned to be picked by Canelo for another lucrative fight that would earn him millions.
It is doubtful that Canelo would be willing to fight Berlanga again, even if he defeats Munguia and Scull. Canelo’s win over Berlanga was so one-sided that it would look bad if he ran it back with him. Berlanga will have to do a lot more than beat Munguia and Scull to win a second fight.
Scull was unimpressive last weekend, capturing the vacant super middleweight title with a questionable 12-round unanimous decision victory over Vladimir Shishkin in Germany.
Promoter Eddie Hearn has said he wants to bring Berlanga back for a draft fight in New York or Puerto Rico. Traveler Gabriel Rosado is the rumored opponent being watched.
The ideal way for Berlanga to get a second fight against Canelo would be for him to move up to 175 and beat two or three of these fighters:
– David Benavidez
– Joshua Buatsi
– Dmitry Bivol
–David Morrell
– Arthur Beterbiev
Berlanga will probably lose badly against all of those fighters, but fighting them is probably the only chance he has to get a rematch with Canelo. Beating Scull, Munguia and Rosado won’t do it.
