Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga is not the blockbuster matchup some might expect to see Saturday during the festive Mexican Independence Day weekend. Instead of facing David Benavidez in the fight the boxing world wants to see, pitting the unified super middleweight champion against the man who has been his mandatory challenger for two years, Canelo chose Berlanga as his foe in a fight that feels more like a financial move than a competitive one.
While undefeated, Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) is an inexperienced contender who has only a puncher's chance against Canelo. A knockout win for Berlanga seems far-fetched, as Canelo's chin is nothing short of granite. Canelo has never been down as a professional, and the last time he was hurt was in his win against Jose Miguel Cotto in May 2010. In addition, his experience is monumentally far above Berlanga's. Canelo will be fighting in his 42nd 12-rounder and his 25th fight for at least one major world title. He's fought three Hall of Famers and two future first-ballot Hall of Famers.
ESPN ranks Berlanga as the fifth-best super middleweight in the world, coming off the biggest win of his career against Padraig McCrory via sixth-round KO in February. It was Berlanga's first KO in two years, after starting his career with 16 consecutive first-round KO wins. In today's boxing, title shots are often handed out even to fighters coming off losses. In contrast, a fighter can be rated as a No. 1 contender and still not get a title shot. Champions frequently choose low-hanging fruit -- low-risk opponents, prioritizing financial gain over competitive matchups. This trend diminishes the prestige of championship opportunities.
Canelo-Berlanga is definitely about business. I question whether Berlanga could even beat some of the other contenders in his division, fighters such as Caleb Plant, Diego Pacheco, Christian Mbilli and Jamie Munguia. Canelo, even on the tail end of his career, is a tall task for the Puerto Rican. Berlanga will likely be a student, just like Munguia was when he fought Canelo back in May.
Let's look at the Canelo vs. Berlanga matchup, what each fighter does well and their chances to win.
Canelo Álvarez is spending his Saturday doing what he usually does around the time of Mexican Independence Day: headlining a big-time pay-per-view card. His opponent this time: undefeated challenger Edgar Berlanga.
It's been three years since Álvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) united the super middleweight titles and he has since defended the group four times with unanimous-decision wins against Gennadiy Golovkin, John Ryder, Jermell Charlo and Jaime Munguía. He is heavily favored to take care of business against Berlanga, to the point that the biggest question is what he'll do next.
Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) isn't a nothing opponent, though, and all it could take is one big punch from the 27-year-old to shock the boxing world.
In the 11 years since he made his headlining pay-per-view debut against Floyd Mayweather, the fight capital of the world has been largely owned, from a boxing standpoint, by the commercial presence of Mexican icon Canelo Alvarez.
That trend will only continue on Saturday as Alvarez returns in yet another Mexican Independence Day weekend pay-per-view clash, this time at T-Mobile Arena, to defend his unified super middleweight crown and boldly go head-to-head with a historically unique UFC 306 on the other end of the world famous Las Vegas strip at The Sphere.
The only negative associated with Alvarez's high-profile return, at least from the standpoint of his critics, has been his choice of opponent. Edgar Berlanga, a 27-year-old unbeaten slugger, will enter as a sizeable betting underdog in the biggest fight of his career against Alvarez while more coveted matchups by fans -- from David Benavidez to Terence Crawford -- will need to wait.
The main hook of the fight's biggest selling point is that Alvarez, 34, will add another chapter to the celebrated boxing rivalry between Mexico and Puerto Rico (and the first since he edged out Hall-of-Famer Miguel Cotto in 2015) when he faces Berlanga, a native of Brooklyn, New York, who proudly leans on his family's heritage while courting attention from celebrities like rapper Fat Joe.
Whichever side of the court of public opinion you stand upon when it comes to his decision making, Alvarez remains confident and ready to put on another show, some four months removed from the dominant decision win against unbeaten Jaime Munguia during Cinco de Mayo weekend in Las Vegas.
"I just can't wait for Saturday night, this is going to be a great matchup for the people," Alvarez said. "Mexico vs. Puerto Rico is always exciting. It's an honor to fight on this date. Mexican Independence Day is very important to us. It's very special and I'm very proud to fight for the Mexican people.
"I always put 100% into my fights and into training, no matter who I'm fighting. It's the same mentality every fight. This is no exception."
While there was never a question whether Berlanga had the commercial potential to one day share the ring with Alvarez, the opportunity came much faster than anyone would have anticipated. After opening his career with a notable streak of first-round knockouts in his first 16 fights, Berlanga struggled at times in decision wins over his next five fights and parted ways mutually with original promoter Top Rank.
To Berlanga's credit, he quickly signed with Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Sport and reunited with trainer Marc Farrait. In February, he also began a new knockout streak by stopping unbeaten Padraig McCrory in the sixth round and has shown zero signs of fear when facing off or trading barbs with Alvarez on the build to the fight.
"It's going to be a big fight Saturday and it's gonna be something amazing. We're going to make history and become legends," Berlanga said. "It means everything to be in this position. I'm not supposed to be here. I've been doubted since before I turned pro. But I knew that I was bound to end up in this position."
The experience gap between the two fighters simply can't be overlooked as Alvarez has nearly twice as many career knockouts as Berlanga has victories. But even though Alvarez has been installed as high as a 20-to-1 betting favorite, Berlanga has a few things going his way in this matchup, including everything from youth and a 5.5-inch height advantage to his confident swagger and a reputation as being a big puncher.
"I'm a knockout artist. Every fighter wants the knockout," Berlanga said. "We know that he's a legend and we can't just go swing for the fences. We have to do it the right way. Sixth-round knockout, that's what we're going for. But we're ready for all 12 rounds if we have to."
Just two years ago, it became a popular opinion to openly question whether Alvarez was slowing down with age, particularly throughout a three-fight stretch against Dmitri Bivol (Alvarez's first loss since 2013) and in decision wins over Gennadiy Golovkin (in their trilogy) and John Ryder. But the hand injury, which limited his training during that stretch, appeared to be the true culprit as Alvarez has bounced back with authoritative wins over Jermell Charlo and Munguia to help him keep pace among the pound-for-pound top 10.
"I just want to show everyone that I'm still the best," Alvarez said. "I still love this sport. When I stop loving it, you'll know. I love my routine and I love going to the gym every day."
To Berlanga, the fight is about even more than proving his critics wrong or establishing himself, for the first time, among the true elite in the sport.
"I could be the face of Puerto Rican boxing after Saturday night," Berlanga said. "I've wanted that for many years and now it's my turn to do it."
In addition to the big main event, PBC has loaded this card with former champions looking to knock off some ring rust after decent layoffs. WBA middleweight champion Erislandy Lara looks to defend his crown against former junior welterweight and welterweight king Danny Garcia in the co-main event. Garcia, 36, has just one fight in the last four years and gets this opportunity without ever fighting at 160 pounds. Elsewhere, former super middleweight champion Caleb Plant looks to get back in the win column when he takes on Trevor McCumby. Plant has also been somewhat inactive with just two fights in three years, including a decision loss at the hands of Benavidez. The card also features the return of former champions Rolando "Rolly" Romero and Stephen Fulton.
"Trevor himself knows that I'm not a bum, and that's why he wants to fight me. He wants to be on the big stage, and that means facing a real fighter. Right now, he's looking at a real fighter. He's fought only bums, but he's not fighting a bum now," Plant said at the final press conference. "We'll see what he brings on Saturday. He's undefeated and he's looking to stay that way. So he'll come motivated."
"We're ready to fight. It's very motivating to be on a card with all of these great fighters and I'm grateful to be up here with them for this great event," McCumby said. "There's no bad blood on my side, I'm just ready to fight. Things are gonna be said at these press conferences and I think Caleb needs to make his opponent the villain when he gets in there. I don't really let things get in my head like that. I go in there to handle business."
Make no mistake, Berlanga possesses both the size and power to be a problem for Alvarez, particularly should the decorated champion take him lightly or get lured into a bit of a scrap early on. But, really, those scenarios would represent the extreme, best-case scenario for Berlanga and would require of him a certain level of smarts and craft that he has yet to put together in a single fight.
Until Alvarez shows up old in a big fight, it's hard to imagine that happening. Alvarez is not only so incredibly responsible defensively, and in terms of his head movement, he also owns one of the best chins in the history of the sport and has never been knocked down, even against power punchers like Golovkin, Danny Jacobs and the much larger Bivol.
If the same Alvarez from the Munguia fight just four months ago enters the ring on Saturday, the reality of what he can do as an efficient sharpshooter and counter puncher has all the makings to be way too much for Berlanga to handle.
For everything good you can say about Berlanga as an athlete or as a puncher, he's visibly lacking the kind of poise and adaptability necessary to succeed at this level. And should he fall behind and feel the need to aggressively rally against Alvarez, all it would probably do is speed up his exit from the fight.
Alvarez admitted this week that he carried Munguia for most of their May fight and purposely chose not to finish his Mexican countryman. But given the trash talk between he and Berlanga, that's a scenario that isn't as likely to take place.
Pick: Alvarez via TKO8
Vegas, baby! Mexican fighter and the WBA, WBC and WBO super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez (61-2-2) faces off against American Edgar Berlanga (22-0-0) for the title belts tonight, Saturday, Sept. 14.
Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga takes place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada with a start time of 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. The main event, which is scheduled for 12 rounds, begins around 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT.
If you’re not a subscriber, then you can sign up for a 30-day free trial to access the PPV feed. As a DAZN subscriber, you’ll also have access to more than 100 live fights all year long, as well as fight re-plays, highlights and documentaries.
When your free trial is done, you can cancel DAZN with a 30-day notice, or keep watching the streaming service priced at $29.99/Month — you’re essentially getting two months for the price of one month.
However, if you’d like to watch Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga without a DAZN subscription, you can purchase access to the PPV fight straight up for $79.99.
Meanwhile, the PPV livestream feed for Alvarez vs. Berlanga is also available on Prime Video. The live feed goes for $79.99 each. Amazon Prime members can log into their account to stream the Canelo fight online through Prime Video here.
If you’re looking for last-minute tickets to the boxing event, they’re still available on third-party resellers sites, such as Ticket Network, Vivid Seats and SeatGeek. In fact, you can save $150 off when you spend $500 with promo code VARIETY150, or $300 off when you spend $1,000 with promo code VARIETY300 at Ticket Network.
In addition, you can use Variety’s exclusive promo code VAR2024 for $20 off at Vivid Seats, or use VARIETY10 at checkout to save $10 off your purchase at SeatGeek.com.
Canelo Alvarez will once again defend his super middleweight titles in this weekend's fight against Edgar Berlanga. Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about how to watch Canelo vs. Berlanga from anywhere.
Canelo's professional record remains nearly impeccable. The Mexican boxer has gone 61-2-2, with a whopping 39 KOs under his belt. Dmitry Vibol and Floyd Mayweather Jr. are the only two competitors who have managed to defeat him, but Berlanga (with an undefeated 22-0 record) will make his attempt tonight.
If you want to get in on the action, you've come to the right place. It's business as usual, with DAZN live streaming the fight in most regions around the globe for a subscription and pay-per-view (PPV) fee. We'll break down all the details, including who else is on the fight card tonight.
Canelo vs. Berlanga will be available on DAZN in the US and Canada. You'll need a DAZN subscription and pay a PPV fee to see the fight. DAZN subscriptions go for about $29.99 a month, and tonight's PPV fee is $89.99. If you're looking for some savings, you can commit to a yearlong DAZN contract, which will only run you about $19.99 a month.
DAZN is a sports streaming service with live and on-demand content, including exclusive boxing matches. It's also available in a vast amount of countries around the world. Many events require an additional PPV fee, but a base subscription also offers its own slate of content.
It's a similar, albeit much cheaper story for viewers in the UK. You'll need a DAZN subscription and to pay a PPV fee of £19.99. Subscriptions cost anywhere from £14.99 to £24.99 depending on the contract type you opt in for.
Canelo vs. Berlanga will be available in almost all DAZN-supported regions, so there's a pretty good chance you'll be able to tune in no matter what. But if you find yourself traveling through a region where you can't access your subscription, you can try using a VPN (virtual private network). VPNs are handy tools that let you change your electronic location so that you can still utilize your usual websites and apps.
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Highlights
The Canelo vs. Berlanga event coverage starts at 8 p.m. ET, but the evening is packed (as you can see from the fight card), so the main ring walks aren't expected until about 11 p.m. ET, according to DAZN.
The Canelo vs. Berlanga card will be held at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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