Oscar De La Hoya Criticizes Canelo Alvarez For Picking Berlanga, Predicts Fan Praise

Promoter Oscar De La Hoya took a shot at Canelo Alvarez on his ‘Clap Back Thursdays’ episode, disparaging him for picking Edgar Berlanga for his next title defense on September 14 in Las Vegas.

De La Hoya Predicts Canelo Boycott

Many boxing fans view Berlanga as an outstanding career who has yet to win a title against Canelo. De La Hoya said fans have started “boycotting Canelo” because of his rival David Benavidez, who has already given up trying to fight him and has moved up to 175.

Oscar says Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) will need “luck” for his fight with Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs), which takes place at the UFC on September 14.

The income that WBA/WBC/WBO super middleweight champion Canelo will lose from ticket sales is just the bottom line. The UFC event will likely affect the numbers for the Canelo-Berlanga PPV.

“The war of September 14 has come. Canelo vs. Edgar Berlanga, the fight no one asked for. “The fans are starting to boycott Canelo for continuing to pretend he knows who he is,” said Oscar De La Hoya on Clap Back Thursdays, reacting to news of Canelo Alvarez defending his three super middleweight titles against Edgar Berlanga on September 14.

Berlanga has been in a position to fight Canelo since Eddie Hearn signed him last week. Soon after signing the New Yorker Berlanga, Hearn started talking about wanting to match him with Canelo.

It’s too bad Hearn didn’t at least pair Berlanga with a credible candidate to win the Canelo fight instead of being given it after winning the two British fights:

– Padraig McCrory
– Jason Quigley.

“And they will face the UFC at The Sphere. I wish you the best of luck in making a show with that one,” said De La Hoya.

It will be difficult for Canelo to sell out the 20,000-seat T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on September 14 because Berlanga is not a fight the fans enjoy. Berlanga is from New York, where many of his Puerto Rican fans are found.

Berlanga’s Bitter Declaration

“This is Edgar Berlanga. I want to tell my fight fans that we got the fight. Berlanga vs. Canelo, live on September 14th in Las Vegas on PPV. You haters will eat your words,” said Berlanga on social media announcing his fight with Canelo.

Berlanga sounded angry and bitter today in his message to fans about getting the fight with Canelo. Instead of being happy and excited about him finally getting “that bag” he’s been whispering about for the past year, Berlanga sounded sad.

“Don’t listen to me because you will sleep for a long time. Knockout season. Fireworks. You know how we come. Big New York,” said Berlanga, sounding as if he has a chip on his shoulder for his fans who consider him to be a top performer that Canelo has chosen to win easily.

Berlanga’s message to his fans would mean something if he had the ability to deliver on his words, but he doesn’t. He did not defeat the second division fighters Steve Rolls, Roamer Alexis Angulo, and Marcelo Conceres. Those three fights showed that Berlanga has little talent and is not the one to fight for the world title against Canelo.

When Berlanga got the chance to challenge David Morrell Jr. for his ‘regular’ WBA super middleweight title earlier this year, he dismissed it, saying he wanted to wait for the big fight with Canelo. If Berlanga believed in himself, he would have fought Morrell instead of sitting around waiting for the Canelo fight to fill his lap.