Canelo Alvarez successfully defended his title in a unanimous decision victory over Edgar Berlanga on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, drawing a packed crowd of 20,312 fans. The bout marked Alvarez’s eighth defense of the super middleweight championship and showcased his dominance in the ring against the younger Berlanga, who suffered his first career loss, falling to 22-1-0.
Alvarez, at 34 years old and boasting a record of 61-2-2, utilized his extensive experience and skill to control the fight, eliciting chants of “Mexico! Mexico!” and “CA-NEL-O! CA-NEL-O!” from the enthusiastic audience. Judges scored the fight 118-109 from Max DeLuca and Steve Weisfeld, and 117-110 from David Sutherland.
Although Berlanga’s punch output was similar to Alvarez’s, the champion exhibited superior accuracy, connecting on 43.3% of his punches while Berlanga managed just 26.7%. Alvarez also displayed his power, landing 49.1% of his power punches.
During the match, Alvarez delivered a significant left hook that brought Berlanga to the canvas in the third round, and he continued to apply pressure, landing a right uppercut and a fierce hook in subsequent rounds. However, Berlanga proved resilient, trading blows and refusing to yield to the champion. At one point, he ended up on the canvas after a wild swing in the seventh round.
Following the fight, Alvarez expressed pride in representing Mexico on such a significant occasion, coinciding with Mexican Independence Day. The event also featured a UFC debut at the Sphere in Las Vegas, showcasing several Mexican fighters.
In other bouts on the card, Erislandy Lara successfully defended his WBA middleweight title against Danny Garcia by TKO in the ninth round and Caleb Plant staged a comeback to earn a ninth-round TKO over Trevor McCumby for the interim WBA super middleweight belt. Additionally, Rolando Romero secured a unanimous decision win against Manual Jaimes.