Canelo Alvarez has revealed who he wants to fight next after he defeated Edgar Berlanga to retain his WBC, WBA and WBO super-middleweight titles.
The two men were fighting at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with Alvarez dropping Berlanga on his way to a wide unanimous decision win.
Canelo was in control throughout the bout, and dropped Berlanga in round three after a left hook. The Puerto Rican showed great heart throughout the contest though, displaying that he would not give up.
Despite his bravery, Alvarez remained dominant, with the fight going the distance and the judges scoring it 118-109, 118-109 and 117-110 in the Mexican’s favour, who was pleased with his victory.
“I did good. Now what are they gonna say? They said I don’t fight young fighters. They always talk, but I’m the best fighter in the world.
“I got a little angry with his tactics, but I’m Mexican man. It means a lot to fight on this day. It’s an honor to represent my country on this day.
“My experience and my talent was the difference. It’s about hard work and intelligence. It’s everything together. If you have talent, you need discipline as well.
“A lot of people say we can’t, but we can. Las Vegas is like a second home for Mexicans. We are warriors and we never give up. I’m going to rest and then I’m going to decide what’s next.”
In terms of what is next, Canelo shocked many over the weekend when he revealed that he is targeting a rematch with Dmitry Bivol, provided he comes out on top in his undisputed title fight with Artur Beterbiev next month.
Bivol defeated Canelo back in May 2022, claiming a close unanimous decision win to deny the Mexican the chance to win the WBA light-heavyweight title.
As for Berlanga, the loss to Alvarez was the first defeat of his professional career, and he acknowledged how difficult it was going against the pound-for-pound great.
“I’m upset because at the end of the day I’m a winner. I fought a legend tonight and did my best to represent Puerto Rico. We’re fighters and we try to throw our opponent off their game.
“I took his best shot and I knew I could take his punches and return them. I could have jabbed a lot more, but I was in there with a legend.”
Elsewhere on the Canelo card, Erislandy Lara claimed a ninth round retirement win over Danny Garcia to retain his WBA middleweight title, and Caleb Plant stopped Trevor McCumby in the ninth round to win to win the interim WBA super-middleweight title.
There was also a dominant unanimous decision win for Rolly Romero against Manuel Jaimes, while Stephen Fulton recovered from a fifth round knockdown to defeat Carlos Castro by split decision.
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