Berlanga Only Wants Bigger Paydays After Canelo Fight

Tim Bradley says Edgar Berlanga’s recent post about wanting to fight Anthony Joshua at heavyweight was a business move to keep making big money hauled in for his title challenge against unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez on September 14th.

Although Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) lost by a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision, Bradley says he did better than expected. With that performance, Bradley, 27, can be positioned by his management for another big money fight.

Bradley says Berlanga’s remark about wanting to move up to 210 lbs and face Joshua is to get a $20 million payday. He says Berlanga’s mindset is he made millions for the Canelo fight.

He wants to keep making that kind of money, and the only way he can do that is by fighting someone really popular. However, Bradley states that Berlanga needs to focus on fighters at 168, and he feels he’s got a good chance of beating these fighters:

– Jaime Munguia
– Christian Mbilli
– Caleb Plant

Berlanga has turned up his nose about a fight against Plant, and he’s not mentioning wanting to fight Mbilli or Diego Pacheco. The only one of those three Berlanga is interested in fighting is Munguia, and he says it’s because he thinks the match will bring in a lot of PPV buys.

“I thought Berlanga carried himself extremely well for a fighter that never fought at that level,” said Tim Bradley to Fighthype, talking about Edgar Berlanga’s performance against Canelo Alvarez on September 14th. “He did better than anybody expected, and Berlanga should learn from this.”

I watched the Canelo-Berlanga fight, and it looked to me like Berlanga just played it safe, covering up, jabbing, holding, and using roughouse tactics.

Berlanga fought exactly how a sparring partner does by shelling up, not throwing punches, and just trying to survive. When a guy fights to survive against a much smaller, older fighter, they often can. Berlanga didn’t show that kind of performance, suggesting he’ll defeat Munguia, Mbilli, Pacheco, or Plant. He can’t make good money fighting scrubs like the 22 guys he compiled his resume with.

“He showed that he’s a real fighter at 168 pounds,” said Bradley about Berlanga. “It was enough competition to satisfy my thirst for boxing. His manager positioned him in that spot, and we felt he didn’t deserve that spot to fight Canelo. But he was at the right place at the right time, and he got it, and he overperformed.”

The Formula to position a fighter into a big payday

Fight exclusively weak opposition: Avoid quality fighters
Compete 25 lbs below your natural weight: If your natural weight is 193 lbs, drain down to 168 for a massive size advantage.
Adopt villain persona: Brag about yourself to become a hated villain.
Rinse and repeat after losing.

“So, now it’s like, ‘Damn, I just made $10 million. How can I position myself to make $20 million?’ So, now he’s trying to be a businessman,” said Bradley, reacting to Berlanga saying he wants to fight Anthony Joshua or Daniel Dubois next. “He’s saying, ‘How can I position myself to get that now?’ That sounds crazy, but when you make $10 [million], you want to make $20 [million].”

Berlanga won’t get the Joshua or Daniel Dubois fights, obviously, but he’s going to have to figure out what he plans on doing at 168. If the only guy Berlanga wants is Munguia, he may sit inactive for a prolonged period waiting. Even if Berlanga does get that fight, what does he do if he loses? Those paydays are going to dry up.

“It’s a business, after all, but obviously, Berlanga, there’s other fish to fry at 168. He can make some real serious money. The PPV numbers are great. He can contribute to that. It wasn’t all Canelo. He contributed. He sold the fight, and I think he gave the fans a reason to want to watch him fight again. He showed a lot of heart, and when you show the fans that, the fans are with you,” said Bradley.