Canelo vs Berlanga reportedly in the works for Sept. 14

The card would go head-to-head with UFC 306

Mike Coppinger reports that undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez is “in the process of finalizing a deal” to meet Edgar Berlanga atop a September 14th DAZN/Prime PPV at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.

Said show would go head-to-head with UFC 306 at the Sphere just three miles away.

Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KO) is coming off a one-sided decision win over Jaime Munguia that saw him floor the young challenger in the fourth and steadily outclass him from there. The IBF proceeded to order a mandatory title defense against William Scull, who appears to have accepted a step-aside deal to clear the way for this.

Moments after longtime interim champion David Morrell Jr moved to light heavyweight following years of the WBA refusing to order a title consolidation, the sanctioning body named Berlanga (22-0, 17 KO) Alvarez’s mandatory challenger. “The Chosen One,” who ended a five-fight knockout drought last February by stopping Padraig McCrory in six, holds zero appeal outside of the Mexico vs Puerto Rico rivalry that we can expect organizers to hammer into the ground. His power proved fictional, his fundamentals remain iffy, and he’s shown a proclivity to cheat his ass off when things aren’t going his way.

And not even in the charming way that, say, Sakio Bika cheated.

I don’t see a need to be poetic here. It’s just a bad fight, arguably Canelo’s worst since Avni Yildirim in 2021. UFC 306’s lineup may be painfully mediocre so far, but I wouldn’t expect big PPV numbers from Canelo this time around.