Saul “Canelo” Alvarez came out victorious on September 14, when he faced Edgar Berlanga in the main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Battling it out on the Mexican Independence Day weekend, Mexico’s world champion brought to the ring his unified WBC, WBA and WBO super middleweight belts.
The scheduled for 12 rounds world championship bout went the full distance. On his way to victory by decision, Canelo sent Berlanga to the canvas with a big left hook in the third round. As the blockbuster showdown came to an end, the scores 117-110, 118-109 and 118-109, all in favor of Alvarez.
With the win, Canelo Alvarez retained his titles and improved to 62-2-2, 39 KOs. The 34-year-old native of Guadalajara, Jalisco made his second ring appearance for the year. His next fight is expected at some point in 2025, likely on Cinco De Mayo weekend.
“I did good,” Canelo said post-fight. “Now what they are going to say? I fight younger fighters. Before they said I fought older fighters. Now what they are going to say? They always talk.”
“I’m the best fighter in the world.”
Puerto Rican Edgar Berlanga, who entered the ring undefeated, dropped to 22-1, 17 KOs and suffered his first career defeat. The 27-year-old native of Brooklyn, New York didn’t succeed in his first attempt to become champion.
“I’m upset, cause at the end of the day I’m a winner,” Berlanga said. “I fought a legend tonight. Hopefully this is the mark today of me becoming a future legend representing Puerto Rico.”
In the co-feature on the card, Cuban Erislandy Lara dropped and stopped Philadelphia’s Danny Garcia in nine rounds to retain his WBA middleweight title.
Among other Canelo vs Berlanga results, Nashville’s former champion Caleb Plant TKO’d Trevor McCumby of Yorkville, Illinois in the ninth round to land the interim WBA 168 lbs belt. Plus, Las Vegas’ former champion Rolando Romero also returned to winning ways with the win by unanimous decision against Manuel Jaimes of San Jose, California.