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Social media fans overwhelmingly are happy with the complete card for this Saturday’s Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga event despite the steep, wallet-emptying $89.99 PPV price tag.
Six notable names are on the undercard, but they mainly involve A-side fighters facing obscure competition that even hardcore boxing fans have never heard of.
The card needed one or two solid fights involving popular fighters matched against opposition that younger fans know of. There are several aging fighters on the undercard, but they’re not fighters that young people are interested in.
Undercard Lacks Star Power
– Erislandy Lara vs. Danny Garcia
– Caleb Plant vs. Trevor McCumby
– Rolly Romero vs. Manuel Jaimes
– Stephen Fulton vs. Carlos Castro
– Roiman Villa vs. Ricardo Salas Rodriguez
– Jonathan Lopez vs. Richard Medina
– Lawrence King vs. Vaughn Williams
– Yoenli Hernandez vs. Jose Charles
– Bek Nurmaganbet vs. Joshua Conley
The main event between unified super middleweight champion Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs) and the unproven Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) is a mismatch, so the undercard needed to be much better than it is.
If the event organizers matched the name fighters against good opposition, it would be much more appealing to fans. For example, super middleweight contender Caleb Plant should be fighting someone talented like Christian Mbilli, Diego Pacheco, or Osleys Iglesias.
In other words, someone who would be the oddsmaker’s favorite to beat Plant. That would be interesting for fans instead of Plant fighting the obscure fringe contender McCumby.
Co-Feature: A Glimpse of The Past
The one exception is the co-feature between Erislandy Lara defending his WBA middleweight title against #10 Danny Garcia. That would have been an excellent co-feature ten years ago, back in 2014, when Danny was still fighting at a high level, but the weight difference would have been too much.
Unfortunately, Garcia, 36, hasn’t fought in two years since 2022 and is unproven at middleweight. He’s not the ideal opponent for Lara to defend his WBA 160-lb title against on any card, even for free.
“I’m a star myself. He’s got the titles. He wants to hold the titles. If he was going to try and not fight me or not fight Benavidez. Eventually, he’s going to have to fight one or us or retire, and I was going to come in and take his spot regardless,” said Edgar Berlanga to the media, talking about Canelo Alvarez.
Berlanga would still be in bad shape if the WBA did strip Canelo of his title with their organization if he chose to ignore him like he’d done with other mandatory contenders. If the WBA stripped Canelo, Berlanga would have to fight #2 Christian Mbilli for the vacant title, and he’s not likely to beat him. That would be just as much of a mismatch as Saturday’s fight with Canelo.
“I have everything. I can fight. I look good. I’m Spanish, I’m Puerto Rican, and I got an island behind me,” said Berlanga. “I’ve got the whole package. When you have the whole package in the sport of boxing, you become a star.”
If Berlanga beats Canelo on Saturday, he will become popular with some fans, depending on his performance. Knocking out Canelo would make Berlanga into a mini-star in the U.S. and put him in position for big-money fights. However, the chances of Berlanga doing that are slim.
Berlanga likely wouldn’t be able to hold onto the three super middleweight titles for any time without his promoters protecting him, swerving the talented contenders that would dethrone him right away.
“My first world title [shot] is fighting for three belts,” said Berlanga. “A lot of fighters get their first title shot for one belt. Me, I’ve got three belts. I could have four, but he [Canelo] vacated the IBF.”
Canelo didn’t choose Berlanga as his opponent because of what he’d accomplished during his career. He was picked because he’s an easy mark, and he can play up the Mexico vs. Puerto Rico angle. Berlanga was picked for marketing and because he’s no threat to beating Canelo.
“He’s going to try and come with his tools and take my head off. I already knew that was going to happen. I’m Puerto Rican,” said Berlanga.
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