Promoter Eddie Hearn is putting a positive spin on Edgar Berlanga’s loss to Canelo Alvarez, suggesting he is now the second most popular fighter in the super middleweight division after his “competitive” defeat on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Hearn says Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) “frustrated” unified super middleweight champion Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) at times with his ring IQ. Canelo was frustrated, but for a different reason than Berlanga’s ring IQ. He was angry at the headbutts, low blows, rabbit punches and illegal straight weapons that Berlanga was using.
It looked like Berlanga was just there to survive the whole night and he didn’t fight hard until the 12th round. In the other rounds, Berlanga seemed too afraid to throw his power shots for fear of being countered again by Canelo. After Berlanga was knocked down in the third round, he played it safe, throwing mainly jabs.
Hearn and the casual boxing fans celebrated Berlanga afterwards just because he got knocked out, but they didn’t have the insight to see that he was just trying to survive and wasn’t trying to win. He was there to go 12 rounds.
Matchroom promoter Hearn tries to paint a false picture that Berlanga had fought heroically, but that is not the reality. He was less impressive than Canelo’s previous opponent, Jaime Munguia, who fought harder and even won four rounds last May. Munguia was more courageous.
“He never really looked out of his depth here. We were beaten well by a legend, but he was always competitive in the rounds,” said Eddie Hearn during the press conference after the fightpraising his fighter Edgar Berlanga after his loss to Canelo Alvarez.
He was only competitive because Canelo didn’t have the size or gas tank to finish Berlanga due to his huge 6’1″, 193 lb frame during the fight. If Canelo’s conditioning was better, he would have knocked Berlanga out in the fourth. round because he was there to be stopped if he could put his fists together instead of just charging in with single shots.
“For me, that was the boxes he ticked. The impregnable chin. He took every shot in Canelo Alvarez’s arsenal. The knockdown was an incredible left hook. It was kind of a flash knockdown. He was never really hurt during the whole fight,” Hearn said.
Berlanga’s weight of 193 lbs is the reason he could take Canelo’s punches. When a light heavyweight takes on a super middleweight, they can withstand his punches much better than when they are competing in their natural weight class.
If Berlanga takes on lightweight champion Artur Beterbiev, we’ll see how good his chin is. Obviously, Berlanga will never fight Beterbiev because his management is too calculated to risk putting him with someone who would take him out and cut the spigot to the oil well pumping in that black gold.
“Even when he was abandoned, he came back, he was shooting, and people loved him. His ring IQ, we know he was better than people anticipated, he was good and frustrated Canelo Alvarez at times,” said Hearn.
Berlanga got up from the third round of fights and only took the punishment for the rest of the fight, playing it safe. He used a lot of illegal roughhouse tactics that infuriated Canelo, which was why he was frustrated with him.
“Like I said before. He secured his whole life (with millions) and the life of his family forever at such a young age, and it’s just the beginning because now, you have to say he’s the #1 name in the division outside of Canelo Alvarez, and there are huge fights for him,” said Hearn about Berlanga.
Berlanga is more popular because of his fanbase in New York City than the other contenders in the 168-lb division, but he lacks much in the talent department. However, Berlanga is not really a true super medium. He’s a lightweight who cuts down to 168 to compete against smaller fighters.
Berlanga is like another type of bully weight David Benavidez, but with less talent, more of a self-promoter (Read: out of touch braggart), and has a shorter life. He needs to be protected more than Benavidez.
“I almost feel like a new signing because we know he was a big star before, but now, I feel like we have one of the biggest stars in the division. I think the return path and the return plan will be really fun ” said Hearn.
When Hearn says “comeback track,” that’s code for soft opponents like the ones he’s faced to build his 22-0 record to get the Canelo payday. Hearn is selling a fake product to the public, trying to make it look better than it is. Berlanga is the equivalent of fool’s gold, and only naive lovers believe that it is real 24k gold.
Berlanga is not a new star, and Hearn is not going to be able to turn him into a steady money driver, like an oil well that pumps black gold for many years. Without protecting Berlanga by pitting him against soft opposition that fans won’t be excited to see, Hearn will lose the deal against good opposition.
When I say: “Good”, I am not talking about Caleb Plant, Diego Pacheco, Jaime Munguia and Christian Mbilli. Berlanga will lose to those guys. If Hearn puts Berlanga up against a high caliber fighter like David Benavidez, David Morrell, or Osleys Inglesias, he will be knocked out.
