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By: Sean Crose
Canelo Alvarez defended his super middleweight titles Saturday night against the brash young Edgar Berlanga. Like many before him, Berlanga seemed impacted by Canelo’s shots in the first. They may not have been particularly damaging blows, but they let the challenger know what kind of power Canelo possessed. The second saw defending champ Canelo resume banging away at his man. Berlanga, however, landed hard shots, too, showing that he had power of his own. Both men tossed off heavy leather in the third. It was Berlanga, whoever, who hit the mat. To his credit, Berlanga got to his feet quickly and survived the second half of the round.
The fourth was fairly close, but in spite of some good punching, Berlanga wasn’t able to keep Canelo off of him. Indeed, Canelo walloped Berlanga to the body in the fifth. While it was true Berlanga clearly had power, Canelo’s power was simply levels higher. The sixth was a round of power shorts. Both men fired them impressively. Berlanga, however, kept being pushed back by the defending champion. Canelo fought with considerable patience in the seventh. With that being said, Berlanga went to the mat on account of a slip.
Canelo may have been well in the lead, but Berlanga made sure in the eighth to let Canelo know he was in a fight. Berlanga wasn’t winning the fight – but he was very much in the fight nonetheless. Still, Canelo chopped away at Berlanga in the ninth. Berlanga seemed to have a chin made of steel, but it was Canelo who was landing with power and frequency for round after round. Canelo calmly separated himself from Berlanga at the end of the tenth, and Berlanga fired away. It was a shrewd move, but Canelo survived the moment.
The eleventh was like most of the other rounds, with Canelo dominating and Berlanga fighting hard while engaging in smack talk. Berlanga landed hard numerous times in a blistering twelfth and final round. Both men, who had definitely not seemed to have liked each other much in the lead up to the fight, embraced immediately after the final bell.
Suffice to say, the judges ruled rightly and unanimously in favor of Canelo.