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Canelo Alvarez fought a massive cruiserweight-sized Edgar Berlanga, who reportedly entered the ring at a gigantic 193 lbs for his title challenge at super middleweight last Saturday night.
(Credit: Sumio Yamada)
Salvador Rodriguez of ESPN Knockout reports that Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) rehydrated 25.4 lbs after weighing in at 167.6 lbs at Friday’s weigh-in. That would explain why Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) failed to knock Berlanga out because he was fighting a cruiserweight.
Safety Protocols Needed
Ideally, protocols should be in place to prevent weight manipulation like this from occurring because it’s dangerous for the fighters who are fighting someone competing so far below their natural weight class. Berlanga should be competing at light heavyweight, not super middleweight.
Inside the ring, Berlanga looked massive compared to Canelo, which wasn’t right, given the size differences between the two fighters.
With Berlanga’s size, Canelo didn’t possess the power to knock out a fighter that didn’t belong in the 168-lb division. Berlanga should be fighting at 175 at the very least, if not in the cruiserweight division.
Light heavyweights rehydrate to the upper 180s to mid-190s for their fights, but you don’t hear much of super middleweights putting that weight on. Again, this is another reason the sanctioning bodies need to enact strict 10-lb rehydration limits to prevent fighters from gaming the system by fighting well with their frames to gain an advantage over smaller fighters.
“Edgar Berlanga entered the ring tonight at 193 pounds; that is, 25.4 pounds above the 167.6 he weighed on Friday. The Puerto Rican won by losing,” said Salvador Rodriguez on X, revealing the weight for the gigantic-looking Edgar Berlanga last Saturday night in his loss to unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez.
Berlanga wouldn’t be a factor if he were forced to fight in the 175-lb division among the sharks in that weight class. Once Berlanga entered the dangerous oceans at light heavyweight, he immediately fell prey to fighters like David Benavidez, David Morrell, Anthony Yarde, and Callum Smith.
Even with the maneuvering, his promoters at Matchroom did for him at 168, Berlanga would never make it to a world title challenge against 175-lb champions Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
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