(This story first was published at USA TODAY.)
Canelo Alvarez did not get the knockout he promised.
But he landed brutal punches (and took a few too) in an impressive victory over Edgar Berlanga by unanimous decision in the 12-round super middleweight fight.
The fighters had to be separated on multiple occasions and talked trash throughout the fight. Berlanga was warned for head butting at one point and Alvarez seemed to take exception to that and other Berlanga tactics. “I get a little angry – a Mexican man,” Alvarez said. The crowd roared with laughter.
The judges scored it 117-110, 118-109, 118-109.
“I’m the best fighter in the world,” Alvarez said, drawing cheers from the sellout crowd at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Alvarez knocked down Berlanga with a left hook in the third round while defending his super middleweight title.
But Berlanga quickly got back on his feet and survived the onslaught in a 12-round bout.
Alvarez has now gone six fights without a knockout. The last one came in 2021 against Caleb Plant, who Alvarez stopped by TKO in the 11th round.
Saturday’s fight was billed as the latest chapter in the boxing rivalry between Mexico and Puerto Rico with Alvarez matched up against Berlanga, a native New Yorker whose parents are from Puerto Rico.
“I could’ve did a lot more. But I was in there with a legend, man,” Berlanga said.
Alvarez, 34, improved to 62-2-2. Berlanga, 27, fell to 22-1.
