Edgar Berlanga undoubtedly knows how to talk.
That’s one of the main reasons why the Brooklyn-born boxer, who has a powerful right hook and Puerto Rican blood in his veins, fought a hard-fought fight on Saturday with Mexican four-division champion and three-belt super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez.
Berlanga, 27, spared no verbal gifts to irritate Alvarez during their news conference in Southern California last month, and is not expected to soften his demeanor during Tuesday’s arrival in Las Vegas, Wednesday’s news conference or Friday’s weigh-ins.
Instead of paying tribute to the 34-year-old Alvarez for handing the undefeated contender a record seven-figure payday, Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) engaged in a verbal spat with the decorated champion over the issue of respect.
“It’s wartime. Now it’s true. You want to rip my head off, and I want to do the same to you,” Berlanga told me in an interview with PPV.COM.
“How can I respect a guy that I want to kill? I have to respect the guy? Get out of here, man. Don’t do that. We come from the streets, so… that’s where (the fight on stage)… respect that guy? I want to shoot that guy, but I respect him? You’re not going to do that. You can’t have remorse, you can’t have respect.”
Berlanga is someone who is used to destroying the competition. He won his first 16 fights by first-round knockout. But then the competition level increased, the fights got longer and the frustration grew to the point where he bit Roamer’s opponent Alexis Angulo on the arm two years ago for taking him down.
The change in fight schedule and reunion with his trainer came before Berlanga returned to form in February, when he knocked out veteran Padraig McCrory in the sixth round.
Berlanga had expressed interest in fighting Alvarez, who was emerging as the mandatory challenger for the WBA title, and as a potential next opponent ahead of Alvarez’s unanimous decision victory over another unbeaten 27-year-old, Jaime Munguia, in May.
After a tense period of negotiations, Berlanga emerged as Alvarez’s candidate.
“When this fight is signed, there will be no more Mr. Nice Guy, because when the bell rings for the first round, that’s when it starts,” Berlanga said.
If anyone regards this first bell as Pavlov’s dog, it’s Berlanga.
But now, as an underdog with bookmakers offering 8/1 odds and a -1600 favourite, will Berlanga pursue victory with the same ruthlessness he displayed in his first 16 knockouts?
“Anything can happen,” Berlanga said of his pursuit of a first-round knockout. “He knows that, and I know that if I’m not alert, he can knock me out in the first round. In our weight class, anyone can punch, so you have to be alert at all times. If you lose focus for a second, that punch you don’t see coming could be the one that gets you.”
“It’s a brutal sport. People die in the ring – seven, eight a year in boxing. Anything can happen. So I take that shit personally. It’s not just me saying it now. I’ve said it my whole career.
“It’s either me or you.”
The fact that it’s Mexico vs. Puerto Rico moves Berlanga. He spoke of being moved by the heroic effort of Puerto Rican Hall of Famer Miguel Cotto, who was unfairly beaten by Mexican Antonio Margarito’s plaster-covered hand in 2008, then avenged him with a 2011 victory at Madison Square Garden.
“Mexican fighters can’t (mess with) Puerto Rican fighters. We have too much skill,” Berlanga said.
“The only reason Margarito did what Cotto did the first time is because he cheated. He had a cast on his glove. He smashed Cotto’s face in that (first) fight, but Cotto was winning that fight. Elementary. Did you see what Cotto did in the next fight? He busted his ass.”
When someone told Berlanga that Puerto Rican fighters had an advantage over Mexicans in the all-time series, Berlanga said, “I’m ecstatic to be here. It’s another match for history. This fight will be intriguing.”
And it was at this point in the conversation that Edgar Berlanga, who was on stage and felt obliged to show Alvarez that he was not impressed with him, got down to the heart of the fight he was going to.
He has never won a title, has 424 fewer rounds of professional fighting experience and has never stepped onto a stage like the one that awaits him at T-Mobile Arena, where Fat Joe will escort Berlanga to that memorable ring.
“Alvarez’s heart will beat like this…” Berlanga said, tugging back and forth on the front of his shirt and rattling his gold chains. “Mine, too. But it’s not because I’m scared. It’s because I’m ready.”
He took a deep breath to imagine what he would likely do when his eyes focused on the red-haired champion sitting across from him.
“The moment has come. You have to accept it. The fans will be screaming. I will be focused on him,” Berlanga said.
“It’s like gladiators. When you go to fight, you have an arena and you go in there to kill each other. That’s my attitude. I have to block everything. Even the exit. My attitude is on this guy.
“Because I’m fighting a legend. I’m not fighting a loser. I’m not fighting the guy I fought last time. I’m fighting the guy who’s been up there with the best. Many times.
“It has to be on… another level.”
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