Hearn Says Berlanga Will Be “Different Fighter” After Canelo Fight

Eddie Hearn told Edgar Berlanga he’ll be a “different fighter” from this point on after his performance against Canelo Alvarez last weekend. The Matchroom promoter Hearn said to Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) that he had never fought like that before and had raised his game.

Hearn plans a tune-up fight for Berlanga for New York or Puerto Rico in early 2025. That fight is not expected to be a high-level opponent to rebuild the 27-year-old Berlanga.

Berlanga appeared to lose every round, but the judges gave him some mercy rounds that he didn’t rate in his one-sided 12 round unanimous decision loss to unified super middleweight champion Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

“You never boxed anywhere near that level. That’s going to improve you. That level is so far above everybody else,” said Eddie Hearn to Matchroom Boxing, praising Edgar Berlanga after his loss to Canelo Alvarez last Saturday night.

“You were matching him in rounds. You never looked out of your depth, ever. Now, when you fight someone else, you’re going to be a different fighter,” said Hearn.

What helped Berlanga keep from looking worse was his massive size. His rehydrated weight of 193 lbs gave him an advantage over Canelo, allowing him to take shots that he wouldn’t have been able to handle if he were fighting a guy his size at light heavyweight or cruiserweight. If this had been Jai Opetaia or Artur Beterbiev, who Berlanga was fighting, he wouldn’t have been able to handle the shots.

“You were unlucky because you hit him on the forehead there because if you had hit him on the chin, you’d have knocked him out,” said Hearn about how Canelo walked away from Berlanga in the final seconds of one of the later rounds, heading towards his corner. Berlanga chased after Canelo and hit him just as the round ended, making the start look bad.

Hearn is blowing smoke up Berlanga’s backside by telling him he would have knocked out Canelo if he’d hit him on the chin at the end of the round. Even if Berlanga had landed on the chin, it wouldn’t have done anything to Canelo because his feet weren’t set, and he ran across the ring to find a cheap shot.

What Hearn doesn’t say is Canelo came out for the next round and really put it on Berlanga, paying him back for the cheap shot by landing numerous power shots that had him hurt. When the round ended, Berlanga staggered back to his corner.