After a generally serene press conference on Monday in New York, tempers flared, chaos erupted and respect went out the window when Canelo Alvarez and Edgar Berlanga met on Tuesday at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
The two, who fight on September 14 at the T Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, had to be separated by security after a fierce altercation and war of words.
“You hit like my son. You don't bring anything to me that I haven't seen before," Canelo blurted out. Wondering why Berlanga was putting up a show of bravado.
Berlanga retorted that since they're now scheduled to fight that's the way to go - no love, no respect.
“You're going to see, motherfucker,” he yelled back at the undisputed champion who was seething with bridled rage at this point.
“Eight rounds – mark my words. I'm not going to have compassion,” said Alvarez. “These kind of motherfuckers keep me motivated.
“I don't want to fuck you up right now because your money will be gone.”
At the age of 34, and 65 fights into a near 20-year-career, Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) is embracing new ways to fan the flames, and Puerto Rico's Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) appears armed with gallons of gas.
“I love it when an opponent pisses me off]. When someone gets under my skin, I make them pay the hard way,” said Alvarez.
The last time an opponent really got on Canelo's nerves ; Caleb Plant, he did pay for it.
“The Chosen One” Berlanga is an eight years into his professional career.
From the start of his career, he knocked out 16 consecutive opponents in the first round, but he has shown flaws since stepping up the competition in recent years. Most recently, in February, Berlanga knocked out Padraig McCrory in six rounds.
“I’m the type of fighter who comes to fight. I won’t be running,” said Berlanga. “Canelo was once in my shoes, and now it’s my time to make my name and become a legend in the sport of boxing.
“This is gonna be a firefight. It’s gonna be different. This is a gladiator sport at the end of the day. We’re looking to take each other out. It’s going to the next level.”
Berlanga also pointed to his boxing IQ as the reason he would beat Alvarez.
Alvarez exploded in laughter.
“He thinks he has more intelligence than me and everyone I’ve fought," Alvarez said. "C’mon bro, he’s not gonna be able to touch me. I wanna see him try.
“Your turn is coming. You think you have more IQ than Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto? He's nothing compared to them.
“You're not going to do anything. You're just going to make me laugh.
“I motivate myself because I love what I do – I love boxing. These types of fights and fighters motivate me even more. I'm going to train like never before.”
Alvarez is still hard as nails, but isn't able to bulldoze his way through opponents as he did in his prime.
Munguia indeed had moments where he was clearly outpunching Canelo when they fought.
Prior to the announcement of the Berlanga fight, Canelo had been heavily linked to a fight against Terence Crawford. With recent statements coming from Turki Alalshikh, that bout seems very unlikely.
By Samuel Opoku Amoah.
Be the First to Comment