By Sean Jones: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum believes that the unbeaten young 24-year-old super middleweight contender Edgar Berlanga (17-0, 16 KOs) will be ready to take the scalp of WBA/WBC/WBO 168-lb champion Canelo Alvarez in a year and a half to two years from now.
Canelo (56-1-2, 38 KOs) is currently 31-years-old, and already starting to show signs of age in his recent fights. In less than two years from now, he’ll be roughly the same age that Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. was when he started taking losses against the likes of Frankie Randall and Oscar De La Hoya.
The 6’1″ Berlanga is a natural super middleweight and a lot bigger & stronger than the 5’8″ Canelo. Even now, Berlanga would be a big problem for Canelo if he could land his big power shots.
Canelo is a good fighter, but his work rate has dropped off to next to nothing due to his aging and the size he’s put on over the years.
“I don’t think anybody beats Canelo. He’s just that good,” said Bob Arum to Boxinginsider. “Maybe in two years or a year and a half, [Edgar] Berlanga [could].”
If Berlanga keeps getting better in the next year or two, he’s going to be avoided by Canelo, and he’ll never get a fight with him.
Berlanga will join the same club as former two-time WBC super middleweight champion David Benavidez (24-0, 21 KOs) as one of the guys that Canelo has zero interest in fighting. Benavidez might as well be the third rail when it comes to Canelo.
You’d get many boxing fans that would disagree with Arum about his opinion that nobody can beat Canelo. We already saw Gennadiy Golovkin, Erislandy Lara, and Austin Trout all arguably beat the popular Mexican star Canelo.
Also, Floyd Mayweather Jr. beat Canelo, and he would have done it again had the two fought a rematch.
The fighter at 168 that most boxing fans believe will beat Canelo right now is Benavidez. That guy is on another level than Canelo and other fighters in the division.
Canelo is obviously well aware of how dangerous Benavidez is, which is why he’s chosen not to fight him.
If you haven’t already noticed, Canelo didn’t go after the WBC 168-lb title until after the belt was stripped from Benavidez for failing to make weight for one of his title defenses during the pandemic.
Had Benavidez kept his WBC title, the chances are VERY high that Canelo would have gotten the idea in his head to try and become the undisputed champion at 168.
Arum needs to try and force Canelo to fight Berlanga by making Edgar mandatory for one of his belts. Again, I don’t think Canelo will ever agree to fight Berlanga, but Arum should try to get him in position.
If Canelo chooses to vacate one of his belts to avoid Berlanga, it’ll be there to be seen by the boxing fans, and they’ll be able to label him appropriately as a ducker.