Berlanga’s Mayweather-Esque Strategy For Canelo Fight

Edgar Berlanga compares himself to Floyd Mayweather Jr. regarding how people would order his fights on PPV, hoping to see him lose.

The challenger Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) feels he’s in the same boat as Floyd heading into what many believe is an undeserved title shot against WBA, WBC and WBO super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez this Saturday, September 14th.

The Pricetag Problem

Mayweather became quite wealthy despite being disliked by fans for his arrogant personality and boring fighting type. If Berlanga has done his job promoting his fight against Canelo by angering fans with his cocky personality, their event could bring in a lot of PPV buys.

What’s working against Berlanga is the event’s high price tag. It is sold for $89.99 on DAZN PPV, more than what many boxing fans are willing to pay. That’s way too high for a fight perceived as a mismatch and a terrible undercard.

It could do well if priced between $15 and $60, but not at $89.99. That’s the kind of price the Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao mega-fight sold for in 2015, and that was a far bigger match.

No one asked Canelo to fight Berlanga, and no one demanded this fight, so it is shocking that the organizers chose to sell it for $90.

They’re counting on Canelo’s loyal fans choosing to scrape the money together to watch it. The regular fans won’t be interested because there’s nothing in this matchup for the lackluster undercard to interest them.

The ‘Pay-Per-View Villain’

“He’s been beaten before. So, it’s not like I’m fighting a guy that’s undefeated. We see holes and cracks in him. The dangerous thing about me is I’m always getting better,” said Edgar Berlanga on the All the Smoke YouTube channel, discussing his fight against Canelo Alvarez on Saturday night.

“With Floyd [Mayweather], everybody bought PPV just to see him lose. So, now I feel I’m in that position. A lot of people are going to buy the PPV just to see me get knocked out as long as they buy,” said Berlanga, comparing himself to Mayweather.

The difference between Berlanga and Floyd is that Mayweather beat excellent fighters during his career before turning into the guy that fans paid to see lose later on when he started to age. Berlanga skipped that part and has gone straight to being a villain type of personality, and the fans who hate him will get their money’s worth when Canelo knocks him out on Saturday.

“I got to be great for 36 minutes that day. I know I got a lot of doubters out there, even with my race. You know, Puerto Rican. I’m going to turn them into believers that night 1000%. I feel like it’s my time now to go out and shock the world,” said Berlanga.

It doesn’t seem likely that Berlanga will be around for 36 minutes to look great. If Berlanga performs as he did in his recent fight against Jason Quigley, he won’t last even half that time.

“For the haters out there, you’re going to see on September 14th. Y’all make me. When I turned pro, nobody wanted to sign me, and there were no promoters. It’s me against the world. That’s the sweetest victory. For that night, it’s going to be for the non-believers and the believers that believed in me,” said Berlanga.

People would believe Berlanga if he had shown courage during the last eight years to fight some quality fighters. That he chose not to fight David Morrell when he had the chance to face him shows that he’s not for real and just another fighter built by his promoters to get a big cash-out fight against Canelo.

In other words, Berlanga is Jaime Munguia 2.0. That’s a guy many believe his entire career was built to get a massive payday fight against Canelo. He never fought anyone good until getting the Canelo fight and was hopelessly overmatched last May when he finally got the life-changing payday.

Puerto Rican fighters have 79 wins over Mexican opposition 👀🇵🇷#CaneloBerlanga | Sep 14 | Live on DAZN: Click link in bio to buy 🥊@premierboxing | @EdgarBerlangaJr | @matchroomboxing pic.twitter.com/3OxPg9j8sh

— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) September 10, 2024