Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga card: Caleb Plant, Danny Garcia and ‘Rolly’ Romero among fighters to watch

The eyes of the boxing world will descend on Las Vegas on Saturday for the second installment of the classic rivalry between Mexico and Puerto Rico.

Unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez returns to T-Mobile Arena to make news Mexican Independence Day weekend pay-per-view event as he welcomes the unbeaten Puerto Rican slugger Edgar Berlanga.

But as the boxing world prepares to find out if Alvarez’s legendary reign will continue or if Berlanga can truly upset the apple cart at the top of the 168-pound division, the undercard is full of marquee names (albeit in possibly one-sided bouts). their own stories.

Let’s take a closer look at what’s worth watching under the PBC on Prime Video PPV card tent.

Erislandy Lara (c) vs. Danny Garcia, WBA middleweight title

This is an interesting game that is full of name but still left most of the boxing fans confused. Long a junior welterweight for more than a decade, Lara moved up to 160 pounds three years ago and saw his interim title move to a full WBA belt despite fighting largely second-tier competition in the weight class. . Garcia hasn’t fought in two years since making his name as a title holder at both 140 and 147 pounds. How exactly will these two square off for the all-important welterweight championship in a fight that has been talked about and teased for two years but never materialized? It’s a difficult question to answer without knowing the behind-the-scenes politics, but Garcia, 36, has said he’s close to retirement after going to training camp several times to break up the fight.

Despite some of the oddities of the fight, it has huge potential to be a solidly good action fight between two very capable boxers fighting outside their preferred weight class. Lara has been much more aggressive at 160 pounds, relying on his hard left hand to keep opponents at bay. And the tail end of his run at 154 pounds saw him co-author memorable wars with Jarrett Hurd and Brian Castano as his legs began to age. Garcia also hasn’t beaten a big name since stopping a faded Brandon Rios in 2018 and has hinted that he could retire even with a win. All of this contributes to why Lara, the more active of the two, remains almost a 3-1 betting favourite.

Caleb Plant vs. Trevor McCumby, interim WBA super middleweight title

Despite losing two of his last three PPV fights against Canelo Alvarez and David Benavidez, the 32-year-old Plant remains among the most talented fighters at 168 pounds (especially with Benavidez and David Morrell Jr. moving up in weight) . . Plant, who is serving an 18-month layoff, believes a win over the unbeaten (but largely untested) McCumby will lead him straight back into a big-money rematch with Alvarez. Either way, this “showcase” fight should be the perfect rebound opportunity for Plant’s brand, especially if he manages to finish his unheralded opponent, best known for his aggressive support of right-wing politics and a failed drug test dating back a year. 2016. In addition to an 18-month suspension, injuries and disappointments forced McCumby to sit out nearly five full years before returning in 2023 with three straight wins. McCumby, an 8-1 underdog, has trash-talked heavy favorite Plant, going so far as to call him a “giver,” a label that doesn’t seem to make sense. Either way, Plant enters a huge opportunity, in just his third fight under respected trainer Stephen “Breadman” Edwards, to strengthen himself in a big way.

Rolando Romero vs. Manuel Jaimes, junior middleweights

While this can clearly be seen as a makeover fight for a sluggish Romero following his 140-pound title loss to Isaac Cruz in March via knockout, one can never be so sure when dealing with the colorful and unpredictable “Rolly.” Romero remains the clown prince of boxing’s lower divisions, no stranger to seeing close title wins come under heavy scrutiny due to his favorable decisions against Jackson Marinez and Ismael Barroso. But Romero is also a legitimate knockout threat with either hand and remains a valued dance partner even up to the PPV level because of his undeniable ability to get under his opponent’s skin and help sell a big fight. However, in boxing you are only as good as your last fight and Romero can use a win badly. His opponent, Jaimes, will be entering the first 10-round fight of his career since turning pro in 2018, but he’s not what you’d call a monster betting underdog, largely because Romero is so raw from a technical standpoint and has been outboxed in the past. . Should Romero swing big and get back in the win column, there’s no telling how big his next fight could be.

Stephen Fulton Jr. vs. Carlos Castro, Featherweight

Fourteen months removed from his unification title loss at 122 pounds against Japan’s elite Naoya Inoue, Fulton is finally returning and moving to a new division. The Philadelphia native headlines Saturday’s preliminary card leading up to the PPV in a tough matchup with veteran Carlos Castro, whose lone losses have come to former champions Luis Nery and Brandon Figueroa. This fight should be the perfect test to see how Fulton looks after such a humiliating first loss and to see if he can regain his P4P reputation.