Eddie Hearn told Edgar Berlanga that he will be a “different fighter” from this point on following his performance against Canelo Alvarez last weekend. Matchroom promoter Hearn told Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) that he had never fought like this before and had raised his game.
Hearn is planning a tune-up fight for Berlanga for New York or Puerto Rico in early 2025. This fight is not expected to be a high-level opponent to rebuild the 27-year-old Berlanga.
Berlanga appeared to be losing in every round, but the judges gave him a few grace rounds that he didn’t count in his 12-round unanimous decision loss to unified super middleweight champion Canelo (62-2- 2, 39 KOs) at the T. -Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“You’ve never boxed anywhere near that level. That will improve you. This level is so far above all others,” said Eddie Hearn to Matchroom BoxingPraising Edgar Berlanga after his loss to Canelo Alvarez on Saturday night.
“You matched him in rounds. You never looked out of your depth, ever. Now, when you fight somebody else, you’re going to be a different fighter,” Hearn said.
What helped Berlanga keep up was his massive size. His rehydrated weight of 193 pounds gave him an advantage over Canelo, allowing him to land shots that he wouldn’t have been able to manage if he were fighting a man his size at lightweight or cruiserweight. If it had been Jai Opetaia or Artur Beterbiev, whom Berlanga was fighting, he would not have been able to handle the blows.
“You were unlucky because you hit him in the front there, because if you hit him in the chin, you knocked him out,” Hearn said of how Canelo pulled away from Berlanga in the final seconds of one of the next shifts. , heading for his corner. Berlanga chased down Canelo and hit him right at the end of the round, making the start look bad.
Hearn smokes Berlanga’s back by telling him he would have KO’d Canelo if he had hit him on the chin at the end of the round. Even if Berlanga had landed on the chin, it wouldn’t have done anything to Canelo because his feet weren’t set, and he ran across the ring to land a good shot.
What Hearn doesn’t say is that Canelo came in for the next round and really put it on Berlanga, paying him back for the low blow by landing numerous power shots that hurt him. When the round ended, Berlanga returned to his corner.
