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Mike Coppinger, ESPN Boxing Insider
LAS VEGAS — Canelo Alvarez, boxing’s top star, retained his unified super middleweight championship with a unanimous decision victory over Edgar Berlanga on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.
Alvarez floored Berlanga with a monstrous left hook in Round 3 — his money punch — and prevailed via scores of 117-110, 118-109 and 118-109. ESPN scored it a 120-107 shutout.
This was the fifth consecutive decision victory for Alvarez, who hasn’t scored a knockout win since he defeated Caleb Plant in November 2021. It’s also the fourth consecutive bout where Alvarez scored a knockdown.
“Now what are they gonna say?” Alvarez, 34, said during his postfight interview. “I fight younger fighters. They say I fight older fighters. They always talk. … My experience, my talent, my hard work, my intelligence, everything together [makes me the best]. If you have talent but you don’t have discipline, you have nothing.”
Alvarez, ESPN’s No. 5 pound-for-pound boxer, is an all-time great. Berlanga, meanwhile, was fighting on the world-class level for the first time. Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs) was a -1600 favorite, per ESPN BET, and a -250 favorite to earn the win inside the distance.
However, Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) rarely threw a power punch, clearly wary of presenting a counter-punching opportunity for one of the sport’s best at capitalizing on such openings. Following the knockdown, as Berlanga sat on the canvas and banged his gloves together, he entered survival mode.
Alvarez pressed forward and tried to close distance as Berlanga pumped his jab from out of range. And while Berlanga was rugged on the inside and showed some toughness, he clearly wasn’t willing to sell out and risk becoming a knockout victim.
“I’m upset,” Berlanga said. “I fought a legend tonight. Hopefully this is the start today of me becoming a future legend. … I took his best shot, I believe, in the third round.”
The Brooklynite of Puerto Rican heritage began his career with 16 first-round KOs, but as he stepped up in competition, his power dissipated. Berlanga, 27, entered his first title shot on the heels of a sixth-round knockout victory over Padraig McCrory in February.
Alvarez, naturally, is several levels above such an opponent, and his wealth of experience showed. He was the far more comfortable fighter, though he was frustrated on occasion by Berlanga’s roughhouse tactics, as referee Harvey Dock warned the pair numerous times.
“Fighters like to throw each other off their games,” Berlanga said.
Alvarez was once again headlining on Mexican Independence Day weekend, one of two boxing holidays reserved for the sport’s top attraction. And he wasn’t ready to discuss whom he wants to face when he eventually returns on Cinco De Mayo weekend.
In the lead-up to the bout, Alvarez told ESPN on Wednesday he was interested in a rematch with Dmitry Bivol, who defeated him in May 2022 at 175 pounds. That’s provided that Bivol beats Artur Beterbiev for the undisputed light heavyweight championship Oct. 12 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Another option was ringside: Terence Crawford, the future Hall of Famer who remains undefeated. He made his 154-pound debut last month with a win over Israil Madrimov and told ESPN on Thursday he’d like to fight Alvarez at the full-fledged 168-pound limit with no rehydration clause.
“I think it would tell the No. 1 guy of this era in the post-Mayweather era, who’s the king of kings,” Crawford said.
Whomever Alvarez fights next, he’ll still be in search of his first knockout victory since November 2021, though he hasn’t lost many rounds in the process.
Alvarez said: “I’m the best fighter in the world.”