Canelo Drops, Cruises to Victory Against Edgar Berlanga

Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs) had few issues in claiming a unanimous decision win against Edgar Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs).

While two judges had it 118-109, one had the fight 117-110. With the win, Canelo retains his WBA, WBC and WBO super middleweight titles. It was a dominant performance from the Mexican multi-division world champion who did not have to dig particularly deep to get the victory. The win is Canelo’s fourth in a row where he was able to drop his opponent but not get the stoppage.

The fight headlined a Premier Boxing Champions event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV. It was promoted by Canelo Promotions and TGB Promotions, in association with Matchroom Boxing. Fight fans around the world could catch the action as a pay-per-view with Prime Video, DAZN, PPV.com or TrillerTV.

Check out our recap of Erislandy Lara’s stoppage win over Danny García and other undercard bouts.

Canelo Cruises to Victory Against Edgar Berlanga

Fight Recap

Both fighters stuck to throwing their jabs in the opening round. Canelo and Berlanga opened up more in the second but were still not taking any significant risks. Between the two, Canelo was the slightly busier one.

In round three, with Berlanga in the corner, Canelo landed a left hook that sent his opponent down. Despite getting hit with a clean shot, he recovered and made it out of the round. Of the two, Canelo was pressing forward, even trapping Berlanga in the corners of the ring.

The left hook that dropped Berlanga could be felt in San Juan 🇵🇷. #CaneloBerlanga pic.twitter.com/QP94bYobdc

— Premier Boxing Champions (@premierboxing) September 15, 2024

Canelo was dominant in each round. No matter what Berlanga did, it was not enough to bother the reigning champion. There were several moments where referee Harvey Dock intervened to warn the fighters against head clashes and low blows, but he never deducted points. Following the round three knockdown, Canelo continued to pummel away at the head and body of Berlanga but was unable to drop the Nuyorican again. Canelo’s dominance was reflected in the scorecards, allowing him to retain his world titles.

Post-fight Interviews

Canelo

“I did good,” said Canelo. “You know, now what they gonna say? I fight younger fighters. Before they say I fought all the fighters. Now, what they gonna say? He fought younger fighters? They always talk. I’m the best fighter in the world.”

“He [Berlanga] said he respects me, I’m his idol, he respects me so much he feels bad [about] the way he act…he did good.”

Edgar Berlanga

“I’m upset because at the end of the day I’m a winner,” said Berlanga. “But I fought a legend tonight, man. Hopefully it’s a mark, today, of me becoming a future legend representing Puerto Rico.”

“You know fighters, we throw each other off their game. I know I was in there. I took his best shot, I believe in the third round. Got dropped, came back and that was the best he gave me. So I said ‘you know what? I can hold these punches and return it.'”