Canelo Alvarez’s options for his next fight are down to two candidates, Chris Eubank Jr. and Edgar Berlanga.
Dan Rafael states his sources say Eubank Jr. (33-3, 24 KOs) and Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) are the two that undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs) is considering.
The Uninspiring Candidates
Salvador Rodriguez of ESPN Knockout reported last week that these were the two fighters Canelo was looking at, but now it’s confirmed that it could be one of them.
These are rotten choices for Canelo to fight in September because neither deserves the golden ticket to receive mega-millions of retirement money. Eubank Jr., 34, is old, inactive, and not ranked in the top 15 in the super middleweight division. He fights at 160 and was knocked out last year by Liam Smith.
Berlanga’s Backdoor Approach
Choosing Berlanga might send the wrong message to fans that it’s okay for fighters to take a backdoor approach to a big fighter by fighting scrubs to get to that spot. Indeed, 16 of Berlanga’s first 16 fights ended by first-round knockout, and that’s not because he’s a phenom.
Berlanga’s last 4 wins:
– Padraig McCrory
– Jason Quigley
– Roamer Alexis Angulo
– Marcelo Coceres
Those are low-level fighters, and sadly, those are the best names on the eight-year resume for Berlanga. When he had the chance to challenge David Morrell for his WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight title as his mandatory, he chose not to take it.
The 34-year-old Eubank Jr. won’t be quite as bad of a choice for Canelo, but that fight should be staged in the UK for it to make sense. It’ll sell over there, and the British fans will be over the moon to see Canelo in person, fighting one of their countrymen.
Eubank Jr. redeemed himself in his last fight, knocking out Liam Smith in the tenth round in their rematch on September 2nd, 2023. In their first fight last year, Eubank Jr. had been knocked out in the fourth round last year.
Worthier Challengers Overlooked
– Christian Mbilli
– Diego Pacheco
– David Morrell
– Hamzah Sheeraz
– Janibek Alimkhanuly
– Willy Hutchinson
– Joshua Buatsi
– Dan Azeez
