Edgar Berlanga was handing out money to fans on the beach in his vacation in Mexico this week, still celebrating his huge windfall against unified three-belt super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez on September 14th.
It’s unclear whether the people Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) was handing money to on the beach were actual fans of his. Berlanga is smart to use this strategy of handing dough for photo-op purposes to give the illusion of being adored.
It’s estimated that Berlanga made $1 million to $3 million for the fight. There’s no estimate of what Berlanga received in terms of PPV upside. It reportedly brought in 650,000 buys on DAZN PPV, which are excellent numbers.
Last month, Canelo defeated the 27-year-old Berlanga by a wide 12-round unanimous decision at the T-Mobile Arena. Despite Canelo’s size disadvantage, he outboxed the massive Berlanga, winning by the scores 118-109, 117-110 and 118-109.
Berlanga’s Path to Canelo Rematch
The Brooklyn, New York native Berlanga hopes to face #2 WBC Jaime Munguia next on PPV in another Mexico vs. Puerto Rico matchup. Berlanga believes that a win over Munguia (44-1, 35 KOs) will put him in position for a rematch with Canelo.
Berlanga’s other plan is to defeat Munguia and then capture the IBF belt from William Scull. With wins over Munguia and Scull, Berlanga would be better-positioned to be selected by Canelo for another lucrative fight that would earn him millions.
It’s questionable whether Canelo would be willing to fight Berlanga again, even if he defeats Munguia and Scull. Canelo’s victory over Berlanga was so one-sided that it would look bad if he were to run it back with him. Berlanga would have to do much more than beat Munguia and Scull to win a second fight.
Scull was unimpressive last weekend, capturing the vacant super middleweight title with a questionable 12-round unanimous decision win against Vladimir Shishkin in Germany.
Promoter Eddie Hearn said he wants to bring Berlanga back for a tune-up fight in New York or Puerto Rico. Journeyman Gabriel Rosado is the rumored opponent that is being looked at.
The ideal way for Berlanga to get a second fight against Canelo would be for him to move up to 175 and beat two or three of these fighters:
– David Benavidez
– Joshua Buatsi
– Dmitry Bivol
– David Morrell
– Artur Beterbiev
Berlanga would likely lose badly to all of those fighters, but fighting them is probably the only shot he has of getting a rematch with Canelo. Beating Scull, Munguia, and Rosado won’t do it.
