Canelo Alvarez, Edgar Berlanga make weight ahead of Vegas showdown
Sep 13, 2024 • 1:43 PM ET
LAS VEGAS – Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and Edgar Berlanga may carry contrasting levels of zeal into Saturday night’s three-belt super middleweight title fight, but they carried within one pound of the same weight Friday morning as they officially weighed in.
Mexico’s four-division champion Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) weighed in before Nevada Athletic Commission members at 166.8 pounds while unbeaten 27-year-old contender Berlanga came in at 167.7 pounds.
The Brooklyn fighter with Puerto Rican bloodlines is filled with enthusiasm as he heads to the biggest fight of his life, Berlanga manager Keith Connolly told BoxingScene.
Connolly reports his power-punching fighter is in great spirits, feeling in prime physical shape, convinced that he’s going to give Alvarez an entertaining bout that will lift his stock and take him to a run of big fights in the coming years.
Connolly is plotting those next steps already, saying he’s convinced his fighter will produce a surprise showing on Mexican Independence weekend.
Although the widespread expectation is that Alvarez’s talent, experience and familiarity with high-profile bouts will justify his betting position as a -1600 favorite, he expressed near malaise this week in saying he agreed casually while on vacation to fight Berlanga because, “I’ve fought everyone” in the super-middleweight division.
Alvarez admitted to BoxingScene that he isn’t feeling the same nerves for Berlanga that he felt going into his series of fights with Gennadiy Golovkin.
Whether those opposing positions on the excitement spectrum matter will be revealed in the ring.
Also Friday morning, WBA middleweight titleholder Erislandy Lara and his challenger, former two-division champion Danny Garcia, each weighed in at 156.2 pounds for their co-main event. The title fight had a contractually agreed-upon 157-pound weight limit.
The main-event and all fighters on the card will participate in a ceremonial weigh-in outside the fight venue T-Mobile Arena Friday at 4 p.m. Eastern, 1 p.m. Pacific.
Lance Pugmire has been a full-time boxing writer for nearly 20 years, serving now as BoxingScene’s U.S. Senior Writer and assistant producer for ProBoxTV’s “BoxingScene Today.” Pugmire capped a near 20-year career at the Los Angeles Times (sports investigations, NHL/MLB beat work, law enforcement/courts and boxing/UFC) to join The Athletic, and then USA Today. Pugmire’s stint at The Times started with the first Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez fight and the Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jnr then-record pay-per-view, leading through a slew of ringside assignments at major bouts, including Mayweather-Pacquiao, Mayweather-Canelo and the Canelo-Golovkin trilogy. Lance’s appreciation for boxing is rooted in his admiration and appreciation for the fighters, gladiators who have proven to be the most forthcoming and candid of all the athletes he has interviewed over a career dating to 1990. Lance was honored to be named the 2022 winner of the Boxing Writers Association of America Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence and he’s collected many BWAA writing awards in categories ranging from breaking news to deep-dive long features.
