Caleb Plant believes Edgar Berlanga doesn’t have much chance of beating Canelo Alvarez next month on September 14th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) was picked out by WBA, WBC, and WBO super middleweight champion Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs) in this once-in-a-lifetime Willy Wonka golden ticket type opportunity.
The Three Key Weaknesses
- Weak chin
- Lack of experience
- Poor technical boxing skills
The Puerto Rican Berlanga has no experience against genuine world-class opposition and struggled against the marginal competition that his promoters have carefully selected for him to maintain his unbeaten record.
While they’ve accomplished their mission of keeping Berlanga unbeaten to get this big payday against Canelo, he’s totally unprepared due to his lack of development and will likely lose and then fade into the distance.
“He’s got to be able to use boxing skills he doesn’t have, have a chin that he doesn’t have and have, and the experience that he doesn’t have,” said Caleb Plant to K.O. Artist Sports on what Edgar Berlanga must do to defeat WBA, WBC and WBO super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez next month on September 14th.
Berlanga’s Lack of Development
It’s unclear whether Berlanga’s management was ever interested in developing him in a true sense to prepare him for upper-level talent. They seemed to back off from matching him against good opposition after he struggled against Roamer Alexis Angulo, Steve Rolls, Marcelo Coceres, and Demond Nicholson. Those are second-tier but solid fighters, and Berlanga looked horrible against all three.
It’s possible that they wanted to ensure Berlanga stayed unbeaten with a fake record and hope that Canelo would pick him out due to his fanbase in New York City, who naively view him as a star rather than a guy with a manufactured record.
“I don’t think Edgar has the skills, but that’s for him to decide. When the bell rings, he can prove us wrong,” said Plant about Berlanga. “I think a lot of people feel the same way, but if he wants to prove us wrong, have at it.”
Berlanga’s likely only chance of beating Canelo is getting lucky with a big homerun swing and hoping he connects with something that can knock out the Mexican star.
