Edgar Berlanga was the last man to take on Canelo Alvarez.
The two fought in Las Vegas back in September, where Canelo was defending his unified WBC, WBA and WBO super-middleweight titles.
Prior to the bout, Canelo held undisputed status at 168lbs, but opted to face a more lucrative option in Berlanga rather than IBF mandatory William Scull, resulting in the governing body stripping the Mexican of their title.
It was an extremely comfortable win for Canelo against Berlanga, winning virtually every round and dropping his rival on his way to a one-sided unanimous decision victory – his fifth in a row – to retain his belts.
Berlanga has now shared his view on Canelo’s power, revealing that he is the biggest puncher he has faced in his career.
“I’ll say he hits the hardest for sure. One of the fighters who hit very hard was [Roamer Alexis] Angulo, he’s a Cuban guy and he punched very hard to. I’d say both of them were like the same but with Canelo I was just mentally ready for his shots.
“I already told myself ‘I know I’m going to get hit, I know I’m going to get hit on my chin’, but I’ve got to bit down on my mouthpiece and push.
“Look what happened in the third round I got hit with a left hook, we had been practicing in camp the whole time, keeping my right hand to my chin and I wound up for this move and he connected right on my chin. It comes with boxing, the greats got dropped got hurt, but it’s about how you come back.”
The Mexican’s last stoppage win came back in 2021 against Caleb Plant, his first time becoming undisputed.
Canelo will look to once again hold all four belts at super-middleweight this weekend when he faces IBF champion Scull, before then turning his attention to a showdown against Terence Crawford in September.
