Wainwright rates Canelo vs. Berlanga

News broke during the week that Canelo Alvarez will put his Ring, WBA, WBC and WBO super middleweight belts on the line when he faces Edgar Berlanga on Mexican Independence Day weekend on September 14 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

It was almost a worldwide disaster. Most consider The Ring's No. 9-rated super middleweight (although it will go up if David Benavidez and David Morrell move out of the light heavyweight division) are completely unqualified, and, wrong.

I live in the UK and I wonder if I will have to wait for this fight? No. Can I set an alarm to wake up and watch during the darkest hours? No, I'll watch it the next day, and anyway, it's because I can't go against it at all since my job is boxing. Hopefully the bottom card has a connection or two of importance. The co-feature, Erislandy Lara-Danny Garcia, could be an exciting fight, but it seems several years too late.

Berlanga (22-0, 17 knockouts) enters with a clean record and Puerto Rican heritage, which will undoubtedly be played. Berlanga, who won his first 16 fights in the first round, received real attention before going the distance in four fights in a row and it looks like that is very little. However, it should be noted that he has never fought in Puerto Rico and does not play much.

A long time ago Berlanga created something amazing, but since his days of anticipation he looks like a manufactured product.

He was so carefully managed by his management that Top Rank decided to cut him from their roster after he showed disappointment in the promotion and was coming off a six-month ban for biting rival Roamer Alexis Angulo during their June 2022 fight.

It has been rumored that Eddie Hearn is swiping and signing a free agent due to his close relationship with Canelo. Sign Berlanga, check, put him against a handpicked opponent, check, and enter the Canelo sweepstakes, check.

It is believed that it will be between Canelo and Berlanga or Chris Eubank Jr., who is a middleweight champion who once ran in the super middleweight category. Truth be told, Eubank Jr. he was no longer eligible like Berlanga. In the end, Berlanga won.

🇲🇽⚔️🇵🇷 Fin de semana de independencia, fin de semana de pelea 🥊 Regresamos al @TMMobileArena de Las Vegas this September 14 #CaneloBerlanga #MexicovsPuertoRico pic.twitter.com/6os7vM4Gtd

— Canelo Alvarez (@Canelo) July 25, 2024

Canelo has a deep boxing history but the 34-year-old is dealing with low-hanging fruit. This is not Gennadiy Golovkin, Billy Joe Saunders, Dmitry Bivol, etc. This is much more than Rocky Fielding or Avni Yildirim.

Will Berlanga explode like Anvi Yildirim in 2021? Photo by Ed Mulholland/Matchroom.

David Benavidez has long been the fan favorite, but he grew tired of waiting for his rightful shot at Canelo and announced last week that he would be making a permanent move to light heavyweight. It's the same story with the dangerous but unsung David Morrell. If Canelo wasn't facing Benavidez, then Muhammad Ali put it another way, “Morrell got two chances: Slim, and he didn't, and Slim just left town.”

There are other candidates for Canelo, but unless you get the special talent of 160 or 175 (and after the loss to Bivol we know Canelo isn't going back to lightweight any time soon). Truth be told, options are slim on the ground. He already holds wins over the respected Caleb Plant and Jaime Munguia.

With Benavidez and Morrell jumping ship, the best fit is The Ring's No. 2-rated super middleweight, Christian Mbilli, who has been making noise in Canada. He will face Sergey Derevyanchenko in what promises to be the fight of the year on August 17.

Meanwhile, Mbilli's stable that promotes Osleys Iglesias has caught the eye with two hard knocks this year but is currently in the high risk category compared to the small prizes. The Cuban will face Morrell's former victim Sena Agbeko and is doing everything he can to further his claims by staying active and attracting attention when he fights.

William Scull was forced to disqualify him from the IBF and was hoping to play that card, but when it became clear that Canelo was facing Berlanga, the IBF stripped the Mexican star. Scull will likely face the equally unknown Vladimir Shishkin.

I think if Terence Crawford can win against Israel Madrimov at junior middleweight this Saturday that will go a long way to making Canelo-Crawford happen next year.

Terence Crawford vs Canelo Alvarez is the biggest fight in boxing right now. Like it or not, just the facts.

— Terence Crawford (@terencecrawford) February 4, 2024

Canelo earned his right to drive a gun a long time ago. He's stubborn and he likes to remind us of that and I think that's part of the reason why he hasn't shown any willingness to face Benavidez. He was looked down upon by a small, big boxer who didn't want to give him a payday (which is consistent with the fact that many people ask him about this fight when he is no longer willing to submit to peer pressure).

His PPV numbers may start to drop significantly if he continues on his current trajectory (which may last a few fights before he calls it quits).

Maybe Berlanga will be better than I have him ranked but Canelo will have to fall off the cliff after 65 fights and a lot of rounds to be a real threat.

The future Hall of Famer has not reached five fights in three years. That has to change, otherwise the naysayers will only grow louder as suggestions slow Canelo down properly.

Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at [email protected] and you can follow him
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