Canelo vs. Berlanga: Mexico versus Puerto Rico 

This Saturday night live on Amazon PPV, Canelo Alvarez takes on Edgar Berlanga in one of the most uninspiring matchups in this storied rivalry between Mexico and Puerto Rico. Erislandy Lara vs. Danny Garcia has this boxing podcaster more interested as the co-feature than the headliner. Names like Caleb Plant, Stephen Fulton, Rollie Romero, and Roiman Villa fill out the undercard/prelims. The boxing world wants Canelo to fight David Benavidez, who is not what most believe to be an undeserving boxer in Berlanga.  That said, I have no hate towards Edgar. He took advantage of this golden ticket, and besides, many fighters deemed unworthy have gotten big fights with Canelo and many other PPV names in the past if they were being fair.

Berlanga has been talking a bunch of trash so let’s see if he will at least back it up in the form of an entertaining performance. Edgar claims he will stop Canelo within six rounds. In order to accomplish that Berlanga would need to hit the ground running right out of the gate with pressure. Now this boxing junkie doesn’t believe the Brooklyn native will mimic the Tasmanian devil. Just don’t see it, whether we’re talking from the first bell or even for a full minute of a round unless he has his man seriously hurt. Besides, Canelo is a great counterpuncher and would love to see Berlanga raging his way inside.

Does Edgar Berlanga have a punchers change? Sure, to an extent anyway, and to be fair, it’s the only way he could actually win against Canelo. We, meaning the boxing media and fans, love to overhype an underdog fighter during fight week with sayings like “anything can happen”, “you never know or the previously mentioned”a puncher’s chance”. I know this having firsthand experience of falling for this type of thing or me saying it as well.

The bottom line is even if Edgar Berlanga had a higher-level victory on his resume, it still wouldn’t prepare him to defeat Canelo. Canelo has an iron-clad chin that has held up to bigger punchers. He’s also faced so many different styles at the elite level. Sure, Canelo is not at his peak form, but so what? Alvarez has too many paths to victory for Edgar Berlanga, who only has one. As a boxing fan, I hope I eat my words. Berlanga shocks the whole world. After all, anything can happen in the sport of boxing, right?

My Official Prediction is Canelo Alvarez by late TKO stoppage.

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Side Note: The undercard is filled with let’s see what this guy has after being beaten badly or stopped. Guys like Plant, Fulton, Rollie, and Villa are all coming off losses, so let’s see how they look on Saturday. Lara vs Garcia is an old man fight that favors Erislandy Lara for a few reasons. Unless Lara gets old overnight, look for him to win cleanly once he adjusts to Garcia.

Written by Chris Carlson Host/Producer of The Rope A Dope Radio Podcast Available at www.blogtalkradio.com/ropeadoperadio Follow on Twitter @RopeADopeRadio