“Does Saul no longer want to knock out opponents?”, — write: sport.ua
Was this battle a worthy continuation of the battles between Mexicans and Puerto Ricans? Let’s figure it out.
Canelo had to knock out his opponent. But everything turned out quite wrong The promotion of the fight between Saul Alvarez and Edgar Berlanga is one of the most heated for Canelo in recent times. Here is a fundamental confrontation. Mexico vs. Puerto Rico is not a traditional fight for Canelo, as he has rarely fought boxers from that country, but overall it is one of the hottest fights in professional boxing.
Here is the behavior of the opponent. However, Berlanga did everything to make people around believe that he has the strength to not just put pressure on the visa. And also the opposition of dimensions. However, Canelo has not fought such a great opponent for a long time. Just for understanding – Berlanga is taller and has longer arms even than Dmitry Bivol, and he fights in a heavier weight category.
It seemed that even Saul himself got fired up with such a fight. Alvarez joked a lot about his opponent at official events. But he talked about how he likes it when opponents behave in this way. Then he enjoys smashing them in the ring.
However, we did not see the end of it. Yes, the fighters really wanted to impress each other. However, Berlanga understood that he could still fly. Therefore, he worked with a jab, walking with his back forward, planning to hold back the face-on attack.
With that, Canelo was moving forward. Despite the huge difference in size, it was the smaller of the boxers who dictated the conditions, pressed and worked as number one.
In the third round, Berlanzi flew. Saul skillfully strikes this blow, and in response to the opponent’s jab, he landed particularly well. However, it is worth noting that Edgar was not very impressed. The knockdown is unconditional, but in a second the guy recovered and was upset, sitting on the canvas, that he had missed.
Still, youth, overall size, physical strength are an important element. Let Berlanga lose to his opponent in boxing, but it was extremely difficult to knock him down or break him. The first point is due to the physical capabilities of a young organism. The second is because of a good battle plan. It wasn’t perfect boxing against Alvarez, but it was better than the vast majority of fans and pundits expected.
It can be said that this was the fight when the internal conflict even hindered the participants somewhere. From time to time, the fighters broke into conversations when it was necessary to fight. It certainly looked impressive, but I wanted to see more boxing than talking battles.
All this ended with a calm victory of Saul Alvarez. He beat a weaker opponent by decision of the judges, everything as usual. Canelo hasn’t won early in three years. The last person he beat early was Caleb Plant in a fight for the absolute championship.
So, during this time, Alvarez managed to lose to Dmitry Bivola by decision of the judges. Then there were Gennady Golovkin, John Ryder, Jermell Charlo, Jaime Mungia, and now Edgar Berlanga.
All of them missed Canelo’s punches in one way or another. Heavy strikes, combinations. Been in knockdowns. Munghia and Berlanga missed hard hits and fell. But Saul did not press them.
It is not entirely clear what it is. Is it the lack of hunger for knockouts. With the same Mungia, Alvarez really did not attack to the full. And this is not fiction – these are the words of Canelo, who later confirmed that he did not want to fight at all and let go a little where he could.
This was not the case today. But at the same time, Alvarez did not win early. Maybe he didn’t want to risk it somewhere. And somewhere, the size of the opponent made it difficult to deliver the blows effectively and definitively.
What’s next? Berlanga will continue to box as before. Nothing has changed for him. He boxed surprisingly well against an uncomfortable opponent who was a huge favorite. He stood up after the knockdown and did not allow himself to be finished to an early defeat. So, in general, the result is more positive than negative.
Getty Images/Global Images Ukraine. Saul Alvarez But what will happen to Canelo is interesting. Because it is obvious that he is not at the peak of his form. And more, most likely, will not return there. Therefore, the choice of opponents is extremely important in the future – so as not to destroy all the gains made over the years.
In view of this, it is interesting whether the confrontation against David Benavides will still take place. Because David is a huge boxer who throws a huge number of punches. And this can indeed be a difficult test for today’s Mexican.
The same question applies to Terence Crawford, who has been actively discussed lately. On the one hand, Saul can be understood – this is a disadvantageous fight for him. He loses – they will say that time has passed because he lost to a smaller opponent who gained seven kilograms. And if he wins, he beat a fighter who gained seven kilograms and looked like that in the previous fight.
On the other hand, who to fight? Christian Mbilly is among the options. Active, small boxer. A fighter who is somewhat similar to John Ryder, who caused a lot of problems for Alvarez. But at the same time, it has a lot of technical problems, which Serhiy Derevyanchenko checked and confirmed – they definitely exist.
Another option is William Pacheco. But this is generally an unlikely opponent, who has just reached the title chance and has not yet been tested by anyone.