Edgar Berlanga: "I’m Already Close to Floyd"

Puerto Rican fighter Edgar Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) shared his thoughts on his bout against WBA, WBC, and WBO super middleweight champion, Mexican star Saúl Álvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs).

"I want the big fights, just like Munguia. He’s Mexican, and he has an entire country behind him. That would be a huge PPV fight.

After the fight, Canelo told me I’m going to be a world champion and a superstar. His family said, 'You’re going to be the face of boxing.' The same thing happened when he fought Floyd Mayweather early in his career. Since then, he’s skyrocketed. I feel the same way.

His face looked (beat up), and mine was clean. His face was covered in cuts and bruises. I felt like he underestimated my power. I heard him telling his coaches, ‘He’s so strong.’ Every round, he kept saying, ‘He’s still strong.’

There were over 650,000 PPV buys for the Canelo fight. They said it brought in around $22 million. I’m already close to Floyd. He knows I’m going to be the face of boxing. He knows the super middleweight division will be mine.

I need all those belts, and I want to become undisputed. I could tell he was getting frustrated. He was playing with his hands—it was his irritation. I took Canelo out of his comfort zone. If I had a ten-week or twelve-week training camp, the fight would’ve been different," Berlanga said in an interview with Sways Universe.

On September 14, Saúl Álvarez defeated Edgar Berlanga by unanimous decision.