Canelo Alvarez sweeps Edgar Berlanga to remain Super Middleweight champion

On Mexican Independence Day one of Mexico’s biggest stars Canelo Alvarez delivered a top performance against challenger Edgar Berlanga. Alvarez floored Berlanga with a monstrous left hook in Round 3 and prevailed via scores of 117-110, 118-109 and 118-109. This marks Alvarez’s fifth consecutive win by decision.

"Now what are they gonna say?" Alvarez, 34, said during his postfight interview. "I fight younger fighters. They say I fight older fighters. They always talk. ... My experience, my talent, my hard work, my intelligence, everything together [makes me the best]. If you have talent but you don't have discipline, you have nothing."

Coming in the excitement for this fight wasn’t there and the domination shows why. Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs) quite simply did what he was supposed to do. Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) rarely threw a power punch, clearly wary of presenting a counter-punch for one of boxing’s best counter punchers in Alvarez. Following the knockdown, as Berlanga sat on the canvas and banged his gloves together, he entered survival mode.

What’s next for Alvarez? In the lead-up to the bout, Alvarez mentioned he was interested in a rematch with Dmitry Bivol, who defeated him in May 2022 at 175 pounds. That's provided that Bivol beats Artur Beterbiev for the undisputed light heavyweight championship Oct. 12 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 

Terence Crawford sat at ringside stating an Alvarez fight is one he would like next. "I think it would tell the No. 1 guy of this era in the post-Mayweather era, who's the king of kings," Crawford said.