Reports are that Canelo Alvarez wants Edgar Berlanga for his May 4th fight, followed by Jaime Munguia in September, rather than the other way around that many had believed.
DAZN wants Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs) as Canelo’s next opponent in May. However, it’s still unknown who Canelo will fight next for the Cinco de Mayo holiday weekend on May 4th, be it DAZN or wherever he lands. Boxing insider Dan Rafael states that DAZN is the one that wants Munguia first.
DAZN’s Munguia Motive
The timing is terrible for Canelo to fight Berlanga next on May 4th, as the Eddie Hearn-promoted New Yorker was coming off a win over a very poor-looking Padraig McCrory last weekend.
It was obvious to the hardcore boxing fans that he was matched against another tomato can, like the ones his previous promoters at Top Rank had been putting him in with during his first 16 fights. Top Rank chose not to re-sign Berlanga, and they know what they’re doing.
It’s unclear what difference it would make to DAZN to have Munguia come before Berlanga. The boxing public will still be just as disappointed in Canelo fighting Berlanga in September as they would if it happened next on May 4th.
Berlanga: A Risky Choice
All DAZN would be doing is delaying the backlash from fans by pushing the Canelo vs. Berlanga to September. The only reason it would make sense for DAZN to have the Berlanga fight moved to September is if Edgar fought someone worthy in between that time and looked sensational to help build a clash between him and Canelo.
Would Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn be willing to put Berlanga in with a cutting-edge super middleweight next to make the Canelo fight bigger for September? That’s a big NO.
Hearn knows that Berlanga is awful and can’t be trusted to hang or compete with a talented 168-lb fighter like one of these murderer’s row killers:
- David Morrell
- Caleb Plant
- Diego Pacheco
- Christian Mbilli
If Berlanga fights and is one of those fighters, he would be ideal as an opponent for Canelo to defend his undisputed super middleweight championship against in September. Without that happening, a fight between him and the Mexican star would fail for DAZN.
Berlanga needs to show that he can beat a top-tier fighter because he’s NEVER faced anyone remotely resembling a top-15 contender during his eight-year professional career