The criticism Canelo Alvarez has received from fans on social media, angry over his choice of Edgar Berlanga as his opponent on September 14, could have a negative impact on his pay-per-view sales for the event.
As Mike Coppinger points out, fans may view the Canelo-Berlanga fight as not worth buying on PPV, and may opt to bootleg it to watch it for free.
Different Ratings and Challenging Battles
Fans want WBA/WBC/WBO super middleweight champion Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs) to fight David Benavidez, not Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs). Fans see the Canelo-Berlanga fight as a special one, as the last one against Jaime Munguia.
If people feel that Canelo will spend the rest of his career fighting the likes of Berlanga, they will stop spending their hard earned money on the Mexican star's PPV fights.
That's why Canelo has to balance his tension and intensity from time to time with someone he's not expected to beat.
A fight with Terence Crawford is not good enough to achieve that goal because Canelo will still be considered the favorite. Crawford will be moving up two weight classes, and few fans see him as having a chance to win.
Canelo needs to mix in fights with these types:
– David Benavidez
– David Morrell
– Artur Beterbiev
– Dmitry Bivol
Social Media Backlash and PPV Implications
“Berlanga will go overboard this time. “I don't consider social media to be the be-all and end-all, but the backlash I've seen from it has been huge when people knew this was coming, criticism came out a lot,” said analyst Chris Mannix. on his YouTube channel about the Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga on September 14. “Is this a no-sell fight at any level in your mind?”
Fans don't see Berlanga as an opponent for Canelo because his history is full of gruesome opposition, and he doesn't deserve this fight against fighters like Benavidez.
Canelo should not have chosen Berlanga. He should have chosen Diego Pacheco or Christian Mbilli if he wanted an easy opponent. Anyone but Berlanga because he is considered a fake.
“I think this is one of those examples where social media represents what the public thinks,” Mike Coppinger said. “It's hard to sell. I haven't seen any opportunities yet. I think Canelo will be -2000 or -2500 in that range. “
There is a lot going against the Canelo-Berlanga fight. The public hates it, and the UFC event will take place on the same night, September 14, in Las Vegas at the Sphere. Canelo doesn't seem to care what the fans think, and that's too bad because his event might not do well without Berlanga's New York fans buying the event in big numbers.
“We all know what will happen on the night of the wars. “Good thing for Canelo, he's going to get beat, I'm sure for the first time since he knocked out Caleb Plant in November 2021,” said Coppinger. I think Edgar Berlanga will sell the fight well.”
Canelo may not get hit. He didn't knock out Jaime Munguia, and he's the same type of fighter as Berlanga with a similar resume of weak opposition. Canelo punished Munguia a lot, and it's clear that he's nowhere near the fighter he was two years ago when he became the undisputed super middleweight champion.
“He's passionate and happy to do interviews with the media, which is important,” Coppinger said of Berlanga. “Canelo will not put the promotion on his back. People are watching Canelo Alvarez no matter what. I think where he's hurt is that there are a lot of boxing fans who will buy PPVs if they think they're worth it, and they'll steal them because it's easy to do otherwise.”
Berlanga will work hard promoting the fight, knowing that the more buys, the bigger his PPV will be. However, many fans will choose not to buy the event due to their lack of interest in the game.
“I think we're going to have a big impact on how I think people look at war and how they think,” said Coppinger. “They will buy it if they see that it is worth it. What stands out the most is that Benavidez is there. If Benavidez wasn't there, I think it would have been different.”
The Importance of Taking Risks
And, if fans believe this will be the case for the rest of Canelo's career, when he picks weak fights that don't prove to be a title match, fans won't pick a watch or turn other ways to see him play. free fighting.
Canelo needs to start taking risks as he used to fight Gennadiy Golovkin, Miguel Cotto, Erislandy Lara, and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“Now, we're at a point where people are saying, 'We know he's never going to fight Benavidez,' and maybe there's some backlash and protest,” Coppinger said.
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