The Mexican boxing juggernaut that is Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez rolls into the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas this Saturday night, and he defends his WBC, WBA ‘super’ and WBO super middleweight titles against the young, hungry challenger, Edgar Berlanga.
Amazon Prime and DAZN televise Canelo vs Berlanga live on pay-per-view.
Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) has done it all in the sport, reigning as world champion from super welterweight all the way up to light heavyweight.
After flirting with the 175 pound division, where he won the WBO belt in 2019, the 34-year-old again went back up in May 2022, but found Dmitry Bivol too hard a nut to crack, losing on points in Las Vegas.
This was a fight after cleaning out the super middleweight division, becoming undisputed champion, and since the Bivol defeat, he has stayed at 168 pounds to defend all the marbles.
His last two defences have seen him see off then-undisputed super welterweight champion, Jermell Charlo, who he floored and widely outscored in September last year, before he turned back the challenge of Jaimie Munguia, dropping his countryman in round four on the way to a clear win on the cards.
Alvarez lost his undisputed status in July, after the IBF stripped him of their belt, with the vacant title set to be contested by William Scull and Vladimir Shishkin on October 19.
It’s 27-year-old Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) next for Canelo, a Puerto Rican based in New York.
‘The Chosen One’ was a sensation in his early career, scoring 16 straight first round knockouts before going the eight round distance with Demond Nicholson in April 2021.
He would then hear the final bell in all three of his next bouts, including getting off the canvas to outpoint Marcelo Coceres before points victories over Steve Rolls, Roamer Alexis Angulo and Jason Quigley.
Berlanga was last seen in February, knocking Padraig McCrory out in six.
Prediction: The feel here is Canelo still has plenty left, even at 34 and with 65 fights on the slate. With no big name of note on his record, this is a big ask for Berlanga, and he is likely to lose clearly on the cards, possibly even tasting the canvas along the way.
Lara-Garcia clash in world title fight
The undercard sees a crossroads clash at middleweight, with Erislandy Lara defending his WBA world title against former super lightweight and welterweight world champion, Danny Garcia.
Lara (30-3-3, 18 KOs), a former foe of Alvarez, is a gifted Cuban, but he has been largely inactive over the last five years.
The 41-year-old is on a run of three straight early wins, the last a second round knockout of Michael Zerafa in March.
Garcia (37-3, 21 KOs) has never fought at the weight, having only moved to super welterweight in his last fight, a majority nod over Jose Benavidez Jr in July 2022.
Prediction: Inactivity is a theme here, but Garcia has boxed just once since December 2020, and with Lara the bigger man, I fancy him to pick and poke to a points win.
Plant meets McCumby
The interim WBA title is on the line at super middleweight, where former world champion, Caleb Plant meets Trevor McCumby.
Plant (22-2, 13 KOs) looks to bounce back from a gruelling unanimous decision defeat to David Benavidez last March, whilst McCumby (28-0, 21 KOs) makes a step-up in class.
Prediction: Plant can his compatriot’s unbeaten record in a points success.
Romero returns
Another former world champion on the bill is Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero (15-2, 13 KOs) and he can rebound from losing to Isaac Cruz last time out with a stoppage win against Manuel Jaimes (16-1-1, 11 KOs) in their 10 round contest at super lightweight.
Fulton faces Castro
Stephen Fulton (21-1, 8 KOs) makes a return to action after suffering the first defeat of his career, an eighth round reverse to Naoya Inoue in Japan last July, and can mark his featherweight debut with a win on the scorecards over 10 rounds against Carlos Castro (30-2, 14 KOs).
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Remaining Undercard
At welterweight, Roiman Villa (26-2, 24 KOs), last seen losing to Jaron Ennis, should bank a 10 round points win over Ricardo Salas Rodriguez (19-2-2, 14 KOs).
In eight round action, Jonathan Lopez (16-0, 12 KOs) can win early again at super featherweight, this time against Richard Medina (15-2, 8 KOs), and light heavyweight, Lawrence King (16-1, 13 KOs) can outscore Vaughn Williams (12-1, 8 KOs).
At middleweight, Cuba’s Yoenli Hernandez (4-0, 4 KOs) can halt Jose Sanchez Charles (21-5-1, 12 KOs).
The sole six rounder is at super middleweight, where Bek Nurmaganbet (11-0, 9 KOs) can bank a win inside schedule against Joshua Conley (17-6-1, 11 KOs), who is coming off three successive defeats.
