Edgar Berlanga scored his first knockout in more than three years with Saturday’s sixth-round stoppage of Padraig McCrory – and now the 26-year-old super middleweight wants to fight Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.
‘I want him now,’ Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) told DAZN’s Chris Mannix after his win in Orlando on Saturday. ‘We want Canelo next.’
Berlanga, a Brooklyn boxer of Puerto Rican descent, famously scored 16 knockouts in his first 16 fights, but that streak came to an abrupt stop in 2022, with difficult unanimous-decision victories over Steve Rolls, Roamer Alexis Angulo, and Jason Quigley.
Things were at their worst for Berlanga against Angulo, when he tried to bite his opponent and was subsequently given a six-month ban by the New York State Athletic Commission.
Now Berlanga and promoter Eddie Hearn believe he showed enough with McCrory to warrant a title shot against Mexico’s Alvarez, the undisputed champion at 168 pounds.
