Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has his next fight confirmed. The Mexican superstar will defend his undisputed super middleweight championship against WBA mandatory challenger Edgar Berlanga. The bout is set to go down on Sept. 14 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Alvarez’s promotional company announced on Thursday.
The Berlanga fight comes after a strange situation in which the IBF mandated a bout with their mandatory challenger, William Scull, as the sanctioning body had priority in the rotation of mandatories. At various points it appeared Alvarez would choose to vacate the IBF title, costing him his status as undisputed champion at 168 pounds, or that he would simply go ahead with the Scull fight, which would be a fight among the lowest interest of Alvarez’s extended time at the championship level.
Instead, the situation was resolved by simply paying Scull money to step aside and potentially get his shot down the road.
Berlanga was shot up the rankings and named the WBA mandatory challenger after longtime mandatory David Morrell moved up to light heavyweight.
Morrell, along with former WBC mandatory David Benavidez, who also moved up to 175, never got their crack at Alvarez despite years as mandatory challengers, with the sanctioning bodies deferring to Alvarez’s whims. The IBF had been more hardline with champions handling their obligations to their title, previously stripping Alvarez of the middleweight championship in 2019 after he failed to come to terms for a fight with Sergiy Derevyanchenko.
This time, Alvarez got his way when it came to avoiding the IBF defense he wasn’t interested in. He now faces Berlanga, who made his name with an incredible 16 consecutive first-round knockouts to start his professional career.
Since that run, Berlanga has only scored one stoppage over his six most recent wins and has looked far more human than the wrecking ball who burst onto the boxing scene with that record-breaking first-round knockout streak.
Also of note, the Sept. 14 date puts Alvarez vs. Berlanga in direct conflict with UFC 306, which has seen the UFC going all-out for the first combat sports event to be held in Las Vegas’ Sphere.
