Canelo Álvarez says he is ‘the best fighter in the world’ after retaining his unified super middleweight titles

(CNN) — Mexican superstar Saúl ‘Canelo’ Álvarez put his WBC, WBA and WBO super middleweight championships on the line on Saturday against the undefeated Edgar Berlanga, and came out victorious.

The pair clashed at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, on a date that had extra significance for Álvarez as it comes over Mexican Independence Day weekend.

He retained his unified super middleweight world title after defeating Berlanga with a unanimous decision, displaying his dominance by knocking down the American in the third round.

“I feel grateful about all the support (the Mexican fans) bring me,” Álvarez told CNNE’s Gonzalo Alvarado in an interview before the fight. “I feel honored to represent my country, represent them and I hope they enjoy the fight on Saturday.”

Afterwards, he told DAZN that “I did good. Now what are they gonna say? They said I don’t fight young fighters. They always talk, but I’m the best fighter in the world.”

Álvarez entered Saturday’s fight as the heavy favorite and boasting a dominant 61-2-2 record. His only two career losses came against the legendary Floyd Mayweather Jr. 11 years ago and in a surprise defeat against Russian Dmitry Bivol in 2022 after making the brief step up to light heavyweight.

The 34-year-old became the first ever undisputed champion at super middleweight level in 2021 when he defeated Caleb Plant via an 11th-round technical knockout and held this distinction until July 2024, when he was stripped of his IBF title for refusing a mandatory fight against William Scull.

“He’s a good fighter,” he said of his opponent, before the fight. “He’s young, he’s strong. But I have a lot of experience, a lot of talent.”

The Mexican described himself as “100 percent ready” for the bout and stated his desire to knock Berlanga out, three years after his last KO in his fight against Plant.

“I am going to try my best to (win the fight) in that way,” he said.

The 27-year-old Berlanga – who was born in Brooklyn with Puerto Rican heritage – entered his first title fight as the underdog, describing the bout as the “the biggest fight of my life” and emphasizing the need to “work smarter, not harder.”

“This fight is all IQ and intelligence,” he told CNN. “It’s nothing physical. We prepped very well mentally for this fight and that’s the most important thing.”

Berlanga had won all 22 of his professional fights previously with 17 of those victories coming via knockout. He said that he was aware of the task at hand but was certainly not short on confidence ahead of Saturday.

“You can’t go in there with a guy like him and think you’re gonna throw bombs and just swing for the fences to knock him out,” he explained. “You gotta set him up, you gotta take him into deep waters.

“There’s gonna be three segments to the fight. First four rounds, he’s gonna come out and feel me out. Second segment of the fight is when the fight is gonna start, that’s when we’re gonna go back and forth. The third segment of the fight is when I’m gonna come to take over.”

Berlanga is known as a hard-hitter but even his power couldn’t challenge the Mexican, who is notoriously resilient as a counter-puncher and has never officially been knocked down in any of his 65 fights.

The-CNN-Wire
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