Canelo Alvarez, boxing’s top star, is set to defend his super middleweight championship against Edgar Berlanga on Sept. 14 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, sources told ESPN.
Alvarez, ESPN’s No. 5 pound-for-pound boxer, will be a heavy favorite to dispatch Berlanga, who will fight on the upper echelon for the first time. Mexico’s Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) is the undisputed champion at 168 pounds but it’s possible the IBF title won’t be on the line as his fight with the IBF mandatory challenger is overdue, sources said.
Alvarez, 34, is coming off a May decision victory over Jaime Munguia. Canelo hasn’t scored a knockout since November 2021 but has scored knockdowns in each of his last three fights.
Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) is a 27-year-old from Brooklyn, New York of Puerto Rican descent. He’s best known for starting his career with 16 first-round KOs. However, as his competition stiffened, Berlanga’s next five opponents lasted the distance. Berlanga’s last in-ring action was a sixth-round KO of Padraig McCrory in February.
David Benavidez has been the public’s top option for fighting Alvarez for years, but Canelo has shown no interest in the WBC interim super middleweight champion.
How did the Alvarez-Berlanga matchup materialize? Who else was considered? Let’s take a look as Alvarez prepares for another Mexican Independence Day weekend fight:
