‘Best fighter in the world’: Canelo defends belts yet again — PHOTOS
A night full of antics and fiery words ended in an unexpected way.
Canelo Alvarez, pressed against the ropes on the right side of the ring, embraced Edgar Berlanga after going the distance.
For the 62nd time, it was the 34-year-old Alvarez getting his hand raised, with a unanimous decision over Berlanga to retain his WBA, WBC and WBO super middleweight titles Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.
The judges scored it 117-110, 118-109 and 118-109 to give the Guadalajara, Mexico, native the victory on Mexican Independence Day weekend.
“I did good. Now what are they gonna say? They said I don’t fight young fighters,” Alvarez said. “They always talk, but I’m the best fighter in the world.”
He staked his claim to that title Saturday.
Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 knockouts) controlled the fight throughout, unfazed by Berlanga’s offense. Alvarez knocked Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) down with a left cross in the third round, putting the Puerto Rican from New York on his heels.
“When I knocked him down, I wanted to fight smart,” Alvarez said. “I listened to (coach) Eddy Reynoso, boxed and gave a great show for my people.”
Alvarez earned his 22nd victory in title fights, moving him to third place all time among Mexican fighters, trailing only Julio Cesar Chavez (31) and Ricardo “Finito” Lopez (25). It was Alvarez’s fifth successful title defense in the middleweight division.
The judges felt Berlanga did his best work in the middle rounds.
“I’m upset because at the end of the day I’m a winner,” Berlanga said. “I fought a legend tonight and did my best to represent Puerto Rico.”
Alvarez and Berlanga landed a combined 11 punches in the first round. Alvarez took over once the feeling-out process ended, landing double-digits shots in all but one of the final 11 rounds.
Alvarez landed 49 percent of his power punches (133 of 271), whereas the knockout specialist Berlanga was limited to 34.9 percent (65 of 186).
Berlanga called his shot earlier in the week with a sixth-round knockout. Alvarez felt he could end things in the eighth round. Alvarez had moments after the third-round knockdown, but he couldn’t put Berlanga away.
“My experience and my talent was the difference. It’s about hard work and intelligence,” Alvarez said. “It’s everything together. If you have talent, you need discipline as well.”
Alvarez also had to overcome “tactics” from Berlanga late in the fight.
Berlanga was given a warning for an attempted headbutt in the eighth round. In the seventh round, Berlanga swung wildly and fell to the canvas.
Each of Alvarez’s past five victories have gone the distance. He hasn’t ended a fight early since a technical knockout of Caleb Plant at the MGM Grand in November 2021.
Plant recorded a ninth-round TKO over Trevor McCumby on Saturday to become the interim WBA super middleweight champion.
Alvarez and Berlanga embraced for over a minute after the fight, smiling and exchanging pleasantries and sportsmanship. Alvarez told Berlanga “to keep going” as a young, talented fighter.
“I told Canelo that he’s my idol. Ever since I was a kid I looked up to him,” Berlanga said. “I felt bad that we had bad blood when we first met. I want to thank him for the opportunity.”
The sold-out crowd of 20,312 was heavily in favor of Alvarez. Mexican flags were prominently displayed throughout the arena, and loud chants of “Mexico!” rang through each round.
It was the 11th time Alvarez fought on Mexican Independence Day weekend. It was another night to remember for him.
“A lot of people say we can’t, but we can. Las Vegas is like a second home for Mexicans,” Alvarez said. “We are warriors, and we never give up.”
Undercard results
Plant (23-2, 14 KOs), fighting for the first time in 18 months, overcame a slow start against McCumby (28-1, 21 KOs) to earn his interim championship.
McCumby knocked Plant down in the fourth round, but Plant dominated the final four rounds. He connected with a flurry of punches in the far left corner before the referee stopped the fight.
“He caught me pulling out and hit me in the shoulder, but that’s part of the game,” Plant said of the knockdown. “He came in with wild punches, and I just had to stay focused. That’s what champions do.”
In a lackluster WBA world middleweight championship bout, Erislandy Lara (31-3-3, 19 KOs) successfully defended his title against veteran Danny Garcia (37-4, 21 KOs) via ninth-round TKO.
Garcia made his middleweight division debut after spending time as a welterweight. He landed just 16 percent of his punches, compared to Lara’s 24 percent.
Las Vegas native Rolando Romero scored a unanimous decision over Manuel Jaimes in the lightweight division. All three judges scored it 99-91.
Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.
