Edgar Berlanga gets the chance to change his boxing career and his life on Saturday night when he faces Canelo Alvarez – and he is not messing around.
The 27-year-old Brooklyn-born Puerto Rican (22-0 with 17 wins inside distance) gets to challenge a PPV megastar on one of the sport’s biggest annual dates – Mexican Independence Weekend.
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Canelo (61-2-2 with 39 KOs) lies in wait for an eagerly-awaited showdown at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with the WBC, WBA and WBO world super-middleweight titles on the line.
Berlanga is a massive 11/1 outsider – few if any experts expect him to shock a fighter who remains at the peak of his powers. But Edgar himself believes this is disrespect more than reality. At the final press conference ahead of Saturday night, he re-iterated that belief with a shocking claim.
Berlanga’s shocking KO claim
He said: “He’s overlooking me, and he doesn’t respect me. Canelo is in the way of my dreams now, I’m the Chosen One, and I’m ready to become the face of boxing, I’m going to knock him the f**k out.
“People don’t understand that I am getting better, and better, and better. Who I was in my last fight is not who I am going to be on Saturday. This is the chance to prove that I am one of the best in the sport, a lot of people have a question mark on me right now, that gets removed fighting a legend and it’s time for new blood to come in and take over the 168lb division.
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“A lot of guys at this level are stuck on the same repetition, but I am like a sponge, I keep learning and getting better.”
Berlanga will absolutely face adversity on Saturday night, but it’s not something he fears. In fact it’s something he’s been used to, for ever.
Edgar fighting adversity, again
“I’ve been facing adversity all my life, since I was a newborn. I almost lost my life when I was two weeks old, so I was a fighter from then. I got sick when I was younger, I had three pneumonias, I was in a critical condition in the hospital, and I fought through that too.
“This is a dream come true for me and I can’t believe sometimes that I am actually here. It’s a blessing from the Lord, through all our trials and tribulations, it was his plan, and we followed it. It’s an amazing feeling, sometimes I look back and think ‘wow, we did it, we made it here’ but the job is not done yet, we still have to go out, win and become a legend.”
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While Berlanga acknowledges that he is coming to take away everything Canelo has built in the last decade and a half, he also has a healthy respect for his opponent on Saturday night.
Respecting Canelo
“I actually like Canelo a lot. It’s crazy that I have studied him a lot, because he was one of my idols growing up and his style reminded me of me. He’s a puncher, he can take a punch, he likes to fight, he’s smart. What he’s done, that’s what I am chasing, legacy. Fighting the best, defending the titles, putting on mega shows, and his resume is elite. You can’t take that away from him and I am working towards that.
“If he comes out in that first round, it’s going to be a bloodbath for sure, he’s in for a world of trouble, it’s going to be the biggest upset in boxing history. I have to step into the ring with that man, a legend, but I am going to be a legend – and the new.”
When is Canelo vs Berlanga?
The big fight is set to go down on Saturday night in Las Vegas – Saturday September 14. Ring walks are expected at shortly after 8pm local PST time – that’s 11pm on the East Coast. Or 4am Sunday if you ware watching in the UK.
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There is one slight fly in the ointment – UFC debuting at The Sphere just down the street with its Riyadh Season Noche show. It has been known for a UFC time clash to mess with boxing fight timings, so just be aware of that.
How to watch the fight live
The fight will be of course televised live on PPV – as are all Canelo fights.
There are two landing spots in the US – the bout is available on Amazon Prime Video AND DAZN PPV. The PPV price is set at $89.99.
As for the UK, the price is VERY VERY different – you can watch on DAZN PPV for £19.99.
