Canelo Alvarez fought a massive cruiserweight-sized Edgar Berlanga, who reportedly took the ring at a gigantic 193 pounds for his title challenge at super middleweight last Saturday night.
(Credit: Sumio Yamada)
ESPN Knockout’s Salvador Rodriguez reports that Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) has rehydrated 25.4 pounds after weighing in at 167.6 pounds at Friday’s weigh-in. That would explain why Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) failed to knock out Berlanga because he was fighting a cruiserweight.
Safety protocols required
Ideally, protocols should be in place to prevent weight manipulation like this from happening because it is dangerous for the fighters fighting someone competing so far below their natural weight class. Berlanga should compete at light heavyweight, not super middleweight.
Inside the ring, Berlanga looked massive compared to Canelo, which wasn’t right given the size differences between the two fighters.
With Berlanga’s size, Canelo didn’t have the power to knock out a fighter who didn’t belong in the 168-lb division. Berlanga should fight at least at 175, if not in the cruiserweight division.
Light heavyweights rehydrate to the upper 180s to mid 190s for their fights, but you don’t hear much about super middleweights putting on that weight. Again, this is another reason why the sanctioning bodies should institute strict 10-lb rehydration limits to prevent fighters from gaming the system by fighting well with their frames to gain an advantage over smaller fighters.
“Edgar Berlanga entered the ring tonight at 193 pounds; that is, 25.4 pounds over the 167.6 he weighed on Friday. The Puerto Rican won by losing,” said Salvador Rodriguez Xwhich revealed the weight for the hulking Edgar Berlanga in his loss to unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez last Saturday night.
Berlanga wouldn’t be a factor if he was forced to fight in the 175-lb division among the sharks in that weight class. As soon as Berlanga entered the dangerous oceans at light heavyweight, he immediately fell prey to fighters such as David Benavidez, David Morrell, Anthony Yarde and Callum Smith.
Even with the maneuvering his promoters did for him at Matchroom at 168, Berlanga was never going to mount a world title challenge against 175-lb champions Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
