Edwards Exposes Berlanga’s Money-Driven Fight Choices, Steering Clear Of Plant, Targeting ‘Damaged’ Munguia

Trainer Stephen Edwards says Edgar Berlanga won’t fight Caleb Plant because he’s in a position where he can pick and choose who he wants to fight. He wants Jaime Munguia because he’ll stand right in front of him, and he is damaged from the bad knockout he suffered in his last fight against Bruno Surace.

(Credit: Melina Pizano/Matchroom)

Edwards says Berlanga (23-1, 18 KOs) won’t want to fight Plant (23-2, 14 KOs) because he would box him and use feints, and he’s a bad style matchup for him.

The $10M Effect

He feels that the big $10M payday Berlanga got in his fight against Canelo Alvarez has put him in a position where he can pick and choose who he wants to fight. Berlanga isn’t trying to take on any high-level contenders at 168. He wants Munguia, who has lost two out of his last three fights, and Jermall Charlo.

That guy is a relic from the past and has only fought once in the last four years. Charlo’s outside-of-the-ring lifestyle is well known to fans, and that helps Berlanga because he would be getting another guy who is less than 100%. His last opponent, Jonathan Gonzalez-Ortiz, looked in horrible physical condition, and it was surprising that DAZN agreed to have him fight on one of their cards.

“Edgar Berlanga is in a privileged position where he can pick certain kinds of guys to fight. You see him angling towards Jaime Munguia. Do you know why? He was just knocked out,” said trainer Stephen Edwards to MillCity Boxing about Edgar Berlanga aiming towards a fight against Jaime Munguia rather than Caleb Plant.

The reason Berlanga is “privileged” is that he has a large fanbase in New York City with Puerto Rican Americans who identify with him. Edgar isn’t from the Island, but he plays to the angle and wears their flag for his fights. He likes being American but sees himself as Puerto Rican.

Spoiled Fighter?

“He [Munguia] comes right at you and could probably be damaged from that knockout [against Bruno Surace on December 14th last year]. That was a bad knockout. He’d [Berlanga] rather fight him than a guy [Plant] that is going to be moving, feinting, and using his reflexes. Those kinds of things,” continued Stephen about why Berlanga wants Munguia but not Plant,” said Edwards.

Berlanga wants Munguia for three reasons:

1. Easy to hit
2. Chinny: Knocked out badly in last fight
3.  Popular with Mexican fans: This means big PPV buys and good money for Berlanga.

“Sometimes when guys get paid certain amounts of money, they become [selective]. Caleb is a bad style for him,” said Edwards. “He’d rather fight guys like Munguia that’s in front of him.”

Berlanga is what is considered a spoiled fighter. He got a big $10 million payday against Canelo Alvarez last September, and now he wants similar money every time he fights, even though he doesn’t deserve it. Berlanga doesn’t want to return to receiving the kind of purses he got when he was fighting the likes of Padraig McCrory, Jason Quigley, and Roamer Alexis Angulo.

Terence Crawford is another example. After getting a big payday against Errol Spence, he waited for an entire year until the right deal was offered to him against Israil Madrimov. He didn’t want to just fight one of the contenders at 147 and take a giant pay cut. Now, he’s doing it again by sitting out of the ring for a year to wait until he gets a big payday against Canelo. Once these guys get a taste of the huge dough, they’re no longer competing in as before. They’re just looking for specific big-payday fights.

You won’t see them fight regular contenders because the money isn’t there, and they might lose. You can’t put Berlanga in with top super middleweights like Plant, Christian Mbilli, Diego Pachecho, or Osleys Iglesias because he’d get beaten again. His career will be over if he moves up to 175, where he should be fighting. There aren’t any big paydays for him or easy marks like Munguia. There are just killers like David Benavidez, David Morrell, Dmitry Bivol, and Artur Beterbiev who would send him down to defeat.

“He never won a world title,” said Edwards about Berlanga. “That guy got $9 million [$10m to fight Canelo Alvarez]. That’s a lot of money. That’s way more money than fighters way better than Edgar Berlanga made in one night.”

Shame on Canelo for choosing to fight Berlanga in the first place because he knows he didn’t deserve a world title shot. His two best wins were against Jason Quigley and Padraig McCrory. Those are lesser guys. Canelo should have given a title shot to Pacheco, Mbilli, or Iglesias, but we know why he didn’t choose them. They’re solid fighters.

White Boy Claim

“Edgar Berlanga got a lot of money to fight Canelo, and he lost every round,” said Stephen. “I thought he fought good, but he lost at least 10 or 11 rounds, and he never won a world title. He got eight, nine, or $11 million. That’s a lot of money for a world title challenger. So, it’s hard to get that kind of guy to take a fight against Canelo Plant where he’s going to be an underdog in it.

“It’s easy to lose to Canelo because he’s a legend. He’s a higher-rated guy. If he loses to Caleb after saying so much stuff about him, that’s going to be [tough]. If Edgar loses to Caleb, his career is probably over with because nobody wants to get beat by the white boy. That’s a problem. American white boys, people don’t want to lose to them,” said Edwards.

Berlanga is focusing on money. That’s the true reason he’s more interested in fighting Jaime Munguia, Canelo, and Jermall Charlo rather than Plant. He can make more money fighting those guys than he can Plant because the fans will purchase the events on PPV.

Munguia would have a lot of Mexican Americans eager to order a fight involving him and Berlanga. It doesn’t matter that Munguia is a marginal fighter who has been carefully maneuvered his entire career by his promoters.

Mexican fans would still want to see him fight Berlanga because they would see it as a good fight. Berlanga’s fans in the East Coast would like to see that match, and they wouldn’t care that he’s never beaten a good fighter in his career. They don’t care or understand that his resume is filled with journeymen.