Boxing Picks 2024- Canelo Alvarez vs Edgar Berlanga (Saturday 14th September)

It has been a quiet time in the Boxing world in terms of level of fight cards being shown, but the quality level should pick up through the final quarter of the 2024 calendar year.

The last time Canelo Alvarez will be going out is always going to be a big occasion, although fans may have hoped that he would have faced someone with a lot more potential threat. You never know in Boxing, but this looks a mismatch and the only hope is that Canelo is ready to take on opponents with stronger resumes next year.

Of course he has done so much in the sport already that it is really up to Canelo what Canelo does.

Even the big money offered by Saudi Arabia is not distracting Canelo from his own plans, much to their frustration, and we should perhaps just enjoy seeing this legendary fighter while he is still willing to put it all on the line.

Any Pay-Per-View involving Canelo Alvarez is going to have a few big names on the undercard and this one is no different. It is going up against a big UFC event on the same night, in the same City, but Canelo remains a massive draw and there will be plenty of eyes on this one.

And we are now one week away from the big Riyadh Season card at Wembley Stadium headlined by Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois.

Canelo Alvarez vs Edgar Berlanga

Some fans may disagree, but Canelo Alvarez remains the King at Super Middleweight and he will be defending two of the World Titles that he has retained after dropping the IBF.

There is still a massive clamour to see Alvarez take on David Benavidez, but that fight seemingly holds little interest for the Mexican.

It is not a 'duck', but Canelo is clearly at a time of his career where he wants to fight who HE wants and not what the fans want. Those who support him still turn up in big numbers to any fight night headlined by Canelo and he is a huge favourite to make it five straight wins since losing to Dmitry Bivol in his attempt to win the Light Heavyweight World Title.

This feels like a mismatch and Edgar Berlanga is perhaps fortune to get the call.

You cannot blame him for taking the fight and Berlanga is young enough to recover, but the excitement around this Boxer has dropped considerably since he was stringing a long run of First Round Knock Outs together.

There is nothing on his resume to suggest Berlanga is going to have the qualities to cause an upset and the only question is whether he is going to be willing to go through the fire to try and turn things around. Recent Canelo opponents have looked happy enough to reach the cards and see that as something of a victory, but Edgar Berlanga and his team have been speaking about the desire to put it all on the line.

Once in the ring, plans can change very quickly, but the hope is that Berlanga will be true to his word.

In reality, he is not winning this fight without taking the risks and he is the naturally bigger man and has to try and impose that on this contest. He is not going to win this one on the cards, but pushing forward may just give Canelo an opportunity to end his run without a Stoppage victory.

The output from Canelo has certainly dipped, which is not a surprise at this stage of his career, but he still has the power to have Knocked Down each of his last three opponents. Pushing through the gears to find the Stoppage has been missing, but the hope is that Edgar Berlanga will not lose his intensity if he is put down and it may lead to Canelo showing the massive gap in levels between the fighters.

There are some big names on the undercard, although some of those Boxers are most certainly on the backend of their careers.

Erislandy Lara is still performing at a decent level though and he should have enough to keep Danny Garcia at arm's length in their chief support bout. The latter has had a very good career, but has been massively inactive, is going up in weight and might just have the pride left to reach the cards.

MY PICKS: Canelo Alvarez to Win Between 5-8 @ 3.20 Ladbrokes (1 Unit)

Erislandy Lara to Win by Decision/Technical Decision @ 2.37 Paddy Power (1 Unit)

Boxing 2024: 25-43, + 10.41 Units (92 Units Staked, + 11.32% Yield)

Boxing Picks 2022- Gervonta Davis vs Rolando Romero (May 28th)

I understand the decision made by Eddie Hearn to take Matchroom Boxing to another platform that was offering a lot more money than Sky, but last weekend underlined the downside of the move.

Moving onto an app means there is far fewer eyes on the product than there should be and you can tell that is frustrating Hearn.

He was critical of his former partners at Sky for not promoting the Katie Taylor-Amanda Serrano fight last month, but this really should not be a surprise to him. During his time with Sky, there was little to no mention of the Deontay Wilder trilogy with Tyson Fury that was going to be shown on a rival channel so Eddie Hearn must have known what to expect.

And last weekend it showed in the ticket sales for a main event that really was one of the better fights that Matchroom have promoted in the United Kingdom for a long time.

Joshua Buatsi and Craig Richards produced a really good fight that showed both are at World level, but it is such a shame they did not have the crowd, nor the television backing that the fight deserved.

Will things change? Maybe not any time soon, but you can understand why it sounds like Anthony Joshua wants to remain with Sky for his own fights and that rumours suggest Dillian Whyte is now a free agent ready to do business with whoever he likes.

Matchroom will push on with DAZN, but for the majority of fighters on the platform it will feel like they are perhaps not moving ahead to be PPV stars as they may have been if performing on the Sky/BT platforms instead.

The bigger question for Eddie Hearn may just be how he can keep those fighters well paid and happy and not lose them to rivals who have strong backing from the partners he left behind.

In reality it shouldn't matter to fight fans as long as we get to see what we want and at a reasonable cost- the Buatsi-Richards fight was a really good one and the win for Joshua may just have put him in line for a huge fight in the Autumn.

He is highly Ranked and due a World Title shot and Joshua Buatsi may have benefited from the news that Canelo Alvarez will move back down to Super Middleweight and take on rival Gennady Golovkin.

That should mean Dmitry Bivol is looking for a big fight and there is plenty of talk of him coming to London again to take on another British World Title hopeful. It would be a huge fight for the British fans at the O2 Arena and one that would deserve big numbers to attend.

Last weekend also saw David Benavidez and Zhanibek Alimkhanuly both win impressively and both will be looking for some big fights in the months ahead.

And definitely keep an eye on Andrew Cain who impressed again as he continues to step up his level of competition.

Gervonta Davis vs Rolando Romero

There is no love lost between two fighters that are currently both under the Mayweather promotional banner, although the suggestion is that Gervonta Davis may choose a different path at the end of this fight.

Both Davis and Rolando Romero are very familiar with one another and seem to have had an issue way before they signed up to fight last December.

It was a bout that has to be postponed when serious allegations were made against Rolando Romero, but those have been withdrawn and that means we get a chance to see this one on Saturday night.

Gervonta Davis had to dig very deep to beat Isaac Cruz, a replacement for Rolly Romero, but he remains unbeaten and it was only the second time he was taken the distance.

Rolando Romero is also unbeaten and has twelve stoppages in his fourteen wins and he has been talking up his chances. Some find him a little obnoxious, perhaps even a little immature, but Romero is convinced he will not only win, but beat Gervonta Davis in the First Round.

This is a big step up though for Rolando Romero and his resume is not one that will worry Gervonta Davis. It has also been hard to shake off the fact that Romero is fortunate to still be unbeaten having looked like he lost against Jackson Marinez and I do think his style is tailor-made for Davis to produce a highlight reel KO.

There is no doubting that Rolando Romero is the naturally bigger man, while Gervonta Davis has carried power up the weights, but does not hit as hard at 135 or 140 as he does at 130.

Even then, he hits hard enough to hurt someone that should not be hard to find and I think the come-forward basic approach of Rolando Romero is going to see the speed and countering of Gervonta Davis drag him onto something big very early.

We are going to learn a lot about Rolando Romero on Saturday night, but I think Gervonta Davis will prove to be a step above his current level and can win this fight in the first half of the Twelve Rounds scheduled.

Before the main event, Erislandy Lara will continue his run in the Middleweight Division as he has his second fight at 160.

The close draw with Brian Castano at Light Middleweight looks all the better considering the latter's performances, but Erislandy Lara is focusing on himself and trying to win a World Title in the Middleweight Division.

There are some potentially big fights ahead, but this is another tick-along moment for him as he takes on veteran Gary O'Sullivan who has regularly come up short when fighting at World level.

Three of the four losses suffered by O'Sullivan have been in stoppages, although there hasn't been a consistency to those either. He was blown away by David Lemieux in the First Round, but managed to last Seven Rounds with Chris Eubank Jr and Eleven Rounds with Jaime Mungaia.

Erislandy Lara did win his first Middleweight fight very early, but I don't think Spike O'Sullivan is going to be as easy to get rid of in this one.

The former is the better boxer and may look to build a lead and break down O'Sullivan over the course of the fight, and Erislandy Lara has looked to be more aggressive as he ages.

I have no doubt that Lara will want to make a statement by stopping Gary O'Sullivan earlier than Jaime Mungaia did, but he will likely have to be patient. I think the first step for Erislandy Lara will be to just wear down the O'Sullivan tank with movement and pot shots and I think that will see the Irish fighter slow down enough for Lara to really plant his feet and let some big shots go.

A small interest on Lara to get the job done in the Championship Rounds is the play as he looks for bigger fights at Middleweight.

MY PICKS: Gervonta Davis to Win Between 1-6 @ 2.10 Bet365 (2 Units)
Erislandy Lara to Win Between 9-12 @ 7.00 Sky Bet (1 Unit)

Boxing 2022: 17-29, + 15.06 Units (84 Units Staked, + 17.93% Yield)