Mexican star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez retains his world title in a two-fight unification bout with a unanimous decision and penalty shootout over Edgar Berlanga in Las Vegas.
Alvarez knocked out the unbeaten Berlanga in the third round and was relentless for 12 rounds on Saturday night. The successful champion Berlanga had a powerful shot in the closing seconds of the ninth and Berlanga's corner could be heard asking his fighter, “Are you okay?” as he sat on the bench ahead of the 10th.
Berlanga, who was booked for a deliberate headbutt, remained competitive, provoking Alvarez into a 12th-round exit. But the Puerto Rican-American, who began his professional career with 16 consecutive first-round knockouts, failed to deliver the draw he had so shamelessly expected.
Alvarez's experimentation with logo pressure was put to bed at first, as Berlanga looked hesitant in the first two shots, and had to be backed up repeatedly in check. He bravely tried to respond not with a third after Alvarez landed a straight shot to the head, but with a devastating left hook from Alvarez or Derupo. Berlanga knocked the lovas down as soon as he sat on the canvas and quickly jumped up.
Berlanga didn’t respond as Alvarez came after him with debilitating body blows, round after round. “Eu me saí bem,” said Alvarez, who won the fight 118-109 on two judges’ scores and 117-110 on the third. “Now what do you say? Do I mourn with the young mourners? Before we said I fight with the older fighters. Now what do you say? They always talk.
“Soo is the best fighter in the world,” said Alvarez, who finished 62-2-2 (39 KOs) and retained his WBA, WBC and WBO belts.
Alvarez recovers
Alvarez lost his IBF belt in July, when he chose to fight Berlanga instead of IBF President William Scull. That didn’t matter to the partisan crowd of more than 20,000 at T-Mobile Arena, where Alvarez had another victory on Mexican Independence Day weekend — a holiday celebrated alongside Cinco de Mayo.
“Esso means muito,” Alvarez said. “It’s an honor to represent my country today. I feel proud, Desso.”
Berlanga, 27, fell to 22-1. When or if it was over, the fighters would embrace each other in a long hug. “I used to tell him he was my idol,” Berlanga said. “Since I was a kid, I admired him.”
This was Alvarez's fifth straight points win, his last coming by distance via 11th-round knockout of Caleb Plant, in November 2021. But it was the fourth straight fight in which Alvarez had been knocked out.
The four-division champion, who has been accused of shunning rising star David Benavidez, said he would take some time to reflect on what he saw here. “You can rest with your family now that you have decided,” he said.
In the qualifiers, Erislandy Lara retained her two-time WBA world title with Danny Garcia being knocked out in the ninth. The slow pace of the fight attracted many fans, but the 41-year-old Cuban singer Erislandy managed to fend off Garcia de Guilhos's left uppercut at the end of the bout.
When the round ended, Garcia’s trainer, Angel, called for the fight to be suspended. “Eu o levei para a escola,” said Lara, who finished 31-3-3 with 19 knockouts. Garcia, fighting for the first time since July 2022, dropped to 37-4 with 21 wins over the distance.
