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Former welterweight champion Timothy Bradley has said Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will “follow the money” in terms of who he fights, and who he fights for next.
Canelo has already stated that he will box on May 4 in Las Vegas, but speculation has been rife that his time with PBC might be over.
Edgar Berlanga defeated Padraig McCrory in six rounds last weekend to put his name in the frame for Canelo, although Berlanga is promoted by Eddie Hearn at Matchroom.
“Canelo’s going to follow the money,” Bradley told ProBox TV. “And if PBC doesn’t do what Canelo asks him to do, then he’s going to go somewhere where they are going to do what he wants to do, and do what he wants.
“I think Berlanga is the front-runner right now.”
The boxing public is clamouring for the undisputed Mexican icon Canelo to face top super middleweight contender David Benavidez, but Bradley is far from convinced that one of the biggest and best fights that can be made will happen at all, let alone soon.
“Canelo is trying to maximize his money,” said Bradley. “He’s trying to exit the game still on top, and that’s the reason why he won’t fight against Benavidez. There’s no point in his eyes because he feels he’s done enough in the sport, he feels that it won’t even add to his legacy, so when you have a fighter like Canelo believing that, and you have fans like ourselves, where we want to see you fight against the best, and you’re holding down these belts, in our eyes it’s disrespectful.
“However, in his [Canelo’s] eyes it’s like, ‘I’m in control, I’m the cash cow, I can do what I want’, all the sanctioning bodies are going to follow suit, so we could be seeing Canelo Alvarez in the near future, in May, against Berlanga.”
Many believe Berlanga, 22-0 (17 KOs), is far from ready, although Hearn said that the 26-year-old New York contender, of Puerto Rican descent, would come to fight and Hearn started playing heavily on the Mexico-Puerto Rico rivalry.
Bradley thinks Berlanga is the exactly type of opponent the 33-year-old 64-fight veteran champion Canelo will target at this stage of his career.
“[Berlanga is] limited amount of risk, a guy that has limited amount of ability, limited amount of skill, can punch, has some notoriety in the game, you’ve got that Puerto Rican-Mexican rivalry that can go on,” Bradley explained. “And that perfect mix of risk and narrative that Canelo’s looking for at this point of his career.”