Edgar Berlanga’s former trainer Andre Rozier says he “can’t celebrate” his recent loss to Canelo Alvarez. It is not something that should be celebrated. Rozier feels Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) should tell himself, “I need to do better.”
Fighters like Berlanga make a mockery of the sport by celebrating defeats, and getting title shots they didn’t earn. It was a joke that Berlanga was given a title shot against Canelo after beating these low level fighters: Padraig McCrory, Jason Quigley and Macelo Coceres.
Last week, Berlanga, a native of Brooklyn, New York, traveled to his parents’ home country of Puerto Rico and celebrated as a hero, which social media fans thought was odd. He was celebrating his participation trophy by losing all 12 rounds against Canelo, and that rubbed people the wrong way.
Canelo chose Berlanga as his opponent, but he had never fought one of the best super middleweights to deserve a title shot. His management had brought him into the title shot by defeating lesser opposition.
If he was going to fight someone good, like David Benavidez, David Morrell, or Caleb Plant, he’s probably gone a long time ago. It’s Canelo’s fault for picking Berlanga because he should have waited until he fought one of those fighters before picking him.
By giving Berlanga a title shot, Canelo sent a message to all other contenders who might follow his path to take a crack at their belts by fighting fluff opposition to create a false record.
Berlanga didn’t do well and fought a survival-oriented fight, putting in a similar effort to Jermell Charlo in his bout against Canelo Alvarez last year. Berlanga fought like a bigger version of Jermell, played it safe, and wasn’t willing to let go of his hands, despite having a massive size advantage.
“He was using the jab better than in the past, which was good. I didn’t like him backing off, he was backing off. He was the bigger man. He should have emphasized his size difference over Canelo, the muscle up and push it,” said André Rozier to Fighthypetalking about his old fight, Edgar Berlanga’s recent show against Canelo Alvarez on September 14th.
“Sometimes you have to fight a dog to get the win to be on top. A lot of people ask me: “What do you think of the show?” celebrate the approach. That’s what you don’t do,” Rozier said.
Berlanga was climbing and covering himself against the ropes as a sparring partner against Canelo all night. He had a huge size advantage, but he wasn’t going to use it because he wasn’t there to try to win. He was in survival mode, and only there for payday in the minds of many fans. The people who paid the high price of $89.95 on PPV to order Canelo vs. Berlanga were furious at how disappointing that fight was in addition to the undercard.
“You have to say to yourself, ‘I could have done better, and I need to do better so I can be better.'” He was just talking. Fighters do that, and he was having fun with words,” Rozier said when asked about his thoughts on being told that Berlanga said he wanted to move up to heavyweight and fight Anthony Johsua at 210 lbs.
Berlanga looked as serious as a heart attack when he said in various interviews that he wanted a fight against Anthony Joshua. It would be a complete joke, and it would be another example of Berlanga getting a fight he didn’t rate. He has never fought at heavyweight, and he should not be given the opportunity to fight a popular man like Joshua without proving himself.
“Anthony Joshua is not going to happen. I like Munguia. He will bring the real warrior out of him, and if he does not respond as he should, then it will be a long night for him. But if he leaves it and approaches to him, it could be a very, very exciting fight where he could definitely be the winner,” said Rozier about who he would like to see Berlanga fight next.
If Berlanga is to fight Jaime Munguia next, he will have to wait until next year because the Mexican slugger is fighting a fringe contender, Ronald Gavril, in December. It would be better for Berlanga to show the fans that he is not a fake and that he is willing to fight with other good contenders to prove himself.
Berlanga should focus on fighting Caleb Plant, Christian Mbilli, Diego Pacheco, or Osleys Iglesias. Some of these guys should be available and willing to agree to fight him if he was brave enough to face them.
