Edgar Berlanga carries Canelo Alvarez confidence to spring return bout
Nov 14, 2024 • 8:30 PM ET
Edgar Berlanga has stood at the sport’s mountaintop, relishing the ring walk before a filled arena and tasting the challenge of lasting 12 rounds against the most popular fighter of the generation, Canelo Alvarez.
Creating a fitting encore to that is a daunting task.
“That experience was amazing,” Berlanga said Friday on ProBox TV’s “Top Stories,” where he joined ProBox TV founder and BoxingScene owner Garry Jonas on an episode.
“If I could go out and relive that moment, I’d do it over and over. I made it to the pinnacle of boxing and showed what kind of fighter I am. I went out and performed when everyone was talking all this stuff. The sky’s the limit for me now.”
Berlanga manager Keith Connolly told BoxingScene Wednesday that he’s aiming to bring Berlanga home to Puerto Rico for a March main event that is currently in discussions.
At 27, Brooklyn’s Berlanga 22-1 (17 KOs) started his career with 16 consecutive knockouts. Full of swagger, he found himself in deep with three-belt super-middleweight champion Alvarez, as the Mexican four-division champion knocked down Berlanga in the third round and cruised to a unanimous-decision victory.
A substantial underdog in that bout, Berlanga claimed a moral victory by going the distance and embracing words of encouragement from Alvarez that Berlanga “told me you’ll be a problem in this sport,” at the conclusion of their bout.
“He knows,” Berlanga said.
Now, the contender moves on to his Puerto Rico card, headlining a DAZN card against an opponent who has yet to be finalized and will likely not be a top-shelf contender in the division.
Those tests will await later in 2025, with substantial foes like former IBF champion and WBA interim champion Caleb Plant, former middleweight champion Jermall Charlo and the other 2024 Alvarez challenger, Jaime Munguia, in wait.
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.
