Edgar Berlanga says his game plan tonight is to box Canelo Alvarez, use feints, and be smart in the ring for his fight. Berlanga says he doesn’t want to come in and start showing wild “bombs” against Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) because that’s not what Floyd Mayweather Jr. he did when he schooled Canelo over a decade in 2013.
(Credit: Ryan Hafey & Rey Del Rio/Premier Boxing Champions)
If Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) is at the level of wanting to box Canelo like Floyd did 11 years ago, he could throw away his best chance to win tonight. Berlanga has the power, youth and massive size advantage over WBA, WBC and WBO super middleweight champion Canelo.
He sounds loony when he talks about changing his fighting style to adopt a Mayweather-esque approach for such an important fight. If Berlanga had tried this approach in other fights to see if it works, then it might be okay to use it against Canelo. But it is foolish for him to stray from what has brought him so far in his career.
“My plan is not to go in here to throw bombs. We have to use the jab, use feints, be smart and smart, make him think,” said Edgar Berlanga to Stephen Smith YouTube. forum about his strategy to defeat Canelo Alvarez tonight.
“When he fought Floyd, he made him think. You can’t go in there like Munguia did and just throw combos. Munguia is a great fighter; he just lacked IQ and intelligence,” Berlanga said.
Mayweather’s fight with Canelo took place when the Mexican star was only 22 years old, fighting at a catchweight of 152 lbs. If that fight had happened when Canelo was in his prime in 2017, that version of Mayweather would have been beaten.
Floyd would have been hit with something big to the body or head, and it would have been over. It was a 101 pick for “Money” Mayweather. He picked Canelo at a good time in his career and then brushed him off by insisting the fight take place at a catchweight.
It was sneaky of Mayweather to pick Canelo at that point in his career rather than when he was in his prime, but that was Floyd’s only shot. He wouldn’t fight Canelo later because that would be a disaster. Also, Mayweather aged quickly after his win over Canelo and was over the hill in 2017.
Berlanga can’t do what Mayweather did because he’s not fighting a 22-year-old Canelo tonight, and the Mexican star won’t be knocked out.
