Unified super-middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez will put all three of his belts on the line against undefeated Puerto-Rican contender Edgar Berlanga this weekend in a scrap that is unlikely to reach the final bell. Here, we at Boxing Social preview this weekend’s action and take a look at the additional fights on offer.
After former unified super-bantamweight champion Stephen Fulton (21-1) begins life as a featherweight on the prelims against Carlos Castro (30-2), attention will turn to the return of another recent world champion in Rolando Romero (15-2).
Rolly lost his WBA super-lightweight crown to Isaac Cruz back in March and has faced heaps of criticism since, with many fans ruling him out of world title contention in the future. However, Romero has shown glimpses of his quality in the past, notably in a relatively strong display against pound-for-pound star Gervonta Davis back in 2022, until Davis found the brutal knockout in the sixth-round.
Romero will face 24-year-old former WBC Youth champion Manuel Jaimes (16-1-1), who is on a four-fight win streak but is relatively unproven on the big stage and at the world level in what looks to be an intriguing crossroads battle.
Boxing Social Predicts – Rolando Romero by Decision
Fan-favourite former IBF super-middleweight champion Caleb Plant (22-2) will also be hoping to bounce back to winnings ways after two defeats in his last three contests – albeit against the likes of Canelo and David Benavidez. ‘Sweet Hands’ will end an 18-month spell of inactivity as he meets undefeated Trevor McCumby (28-0), who has banked three victors since ending a five-year hiatus in May 2023, although he is yet to prove himself to be of the same calibre as Plant.
With the 168lb world title a realistic possibility for Plant after Canelo was stripped and Benavidez and David Morrell moved up, a win here against the WBA #8 could thrust Plant back into the title picture after dropping out of the top fifteen with each of the other three sanctioning bodies.
Boxing Social Predicts – Caleb Plant by KO/TKO
In the co-main event of the evening, 41-year-old Erislandy Lara (30-3-3) seeks to make a second defence of his WBA middleweight title against Danny Garcia (37-3) – in what is sure to be one of the highest combined age world title fights (77) this side of the 21st century. Lara was upgraded from Regular champion to full titleholder last year but proved himself worthy of the mantle with a second-round stoppage against Australian pantomime villain Michael Zerafa in March.
Meanwhile, former WBC super-lightweight and welterweight champion Garcia has fought just once since his 2020 defeat to Errol Spence Jr and will be fighting up at middleweight for the first time in what has to be deemed as a questionable world title opportunity. Nevertheless, the contest is still expected to be a closely-fought affair and if Garcia can make it past the opening six rounds we could see him spring an upset, but that is easier said than done.
Garcia did the full twelve rounds on his most recent outing against Jose Benavidez Jr. whilst Lara has won just one of his last three bouts to have gone the distance and has fought less rounds (11) since 2020 than the inactive Garcia (12), regardless of the fact that he has fought on three occasions to the challenger’s one.
Boxing Social Predicts – Danny Garcia by Decision
Finally, in the tenth contest of the evening, Canelo (61-2-2) and Berlanga (22-0) will take centre stage – each hopeful of securing a stoppage that will get the world talking. Alvarez has gone the distance for five consecutive bouts for the first time in his career after a dominant display against Jaime Munguia but his newfound tendency to go the distance has cost him his position as the pound-for-pound number one, as well as a sizeable portion of his pay-per-view draw.
Whilst Berlanga is yet to be defeated, he has been dropped in the past and he is likely to attempt to try and take the fight to Alvarez, given his phenomenal record of 16 successive knockouts from his debut onwards. Although that impressive run came to an end in 2021 and a string of unconvincing displays followed, his latest performance against Padraig McCrory may well have been his strongest to date and ‘The Chosen One’ is likely to be full of confidence, particularly against a supposedly declining Alvarez, who has not been in a fire fight for a number of years.
With both men predicting knockouts, the fabled chin of Canelo is likely to provide a further stumbling block for Berlanga and the challenger’s inexperience in the championship rounds, which he has only partaken in once, likely mean that Canelo will attempt to negate the early attacks of Berlanga before pressing his own accelerator in the latter stages.
Boxing Social Predicts – Canelo Alvarez by KO/TKO Rounds 7-12
How To Watch
Canelo-Berlanga will take place on Saturday 14th September at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and will be available to purchase and watch live on Amazon Prime Video PPV or DAZN PPV.
Full Card / Running Order
- Yoenli Hernandez (4-0) vs. Jose Sanchez Charles (21-5-1) – Middleweight
- Bek Nurmaganbet (11-0) vs. Joshua Conley (17-6-1) – Super-Middleweight
- Lawrence King (16-1) vs. Vaughn Williams (12-1) – Light-Heavyweight
- Jonathan Lopez (16-0) vs. Richard Medina (15-2) – Super-Featherweight
- Roiman Villa (26-2) vs. Ricardo Salas Rodriguez (19-2-2) – Welterweight
- Stephen Fulton (21-1) vs. Carlos Castro (30-2) – Featherweight
- Rolando Romero (15-2) vs. Manuel Jaimes (16-1-1) – Super-Lightweight
- Caleb Plant (22-2) vs. Trevor McCumby (28-0) – Super-Middleweight
- Erislandy Lara (30-3-3) vs. Danny Garcia (37-3) – WBA Middleweight Title
- Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (61-2-2) vs. Edgar Berlanga (22-0) – WBC, WBO & WBA Super-Middleweight Titles
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