Chasing The ‘Bag’? Berlanga Skips Plant, Targets Munguia, And Banks On Riyadh Season

Edgar Berlanga is targeting a fight against Jaime Munguia later this year if the Mexican fighter wins his rematch with Bruno Surace on the undercard of Canelo Alvarez vs. William Scull on May 3rd in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Munguia Over Plant?

Choosing the recently knocked-out Munguia as his desired opponent rather than Caleb Plant is going to make Berlanga look bad. Boxing fans already view Berlanga as having ducked Plant, but this will further cement that view if he chooses to face Munguia.

There’s no gain for Edgar fighting Munguia because he’s 2-2 in his last four fights, and he’s likely to lose his rematch against Surace on May 3rd. Fans were looking forward to Berlanga’s fight with Plant when he mentioned his name after his last fight.

Berlanga feels that Munguia, 28, is his best option because it would attract interest from Mexican and Puerto Rican fans. He thinks that win over Munguia will get him a rematch with unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez.

The former super middleweight world title challenger Berlanga (23-1, 18 KOs) told Ring Magazine that he views Munguia (44-2, 35 KOs) as the guy he wants rather than Caleb Plant or Jermall Charlo.

First-Round Fantasies

Berlanga believes he can knock out Munguia in the first round. Edgar’s first-round knockout against the 35-year-old Jonathan Gonzalez-Ortiz on March 15th has given him ideas that he can do the same thing to Munguia. Assuming Berlanga does get his wish to fight Munguia next, and he beats him, it’s going to take more than that to get a rematch with Canelo.

Berlanga is counting on Riyadh Season taking an interest in him and financing his hoped-for fight against Munguia next. If it happens, good for him. Munguia and Berlanga are birds of a feather. Both guys have been carefully maneuvered their entire careers, matched against strictly weak opposition to get the big Canelo payday. Both got the fight and were totally overmatched in one-sided losses.

The “Bag” Factor

Predictably, Berlanga will target Jermall Charlo after Mungua because he’s an easier option than Caleb Plant. If Canelo is going to make it difficult for Berlanga to get “the bag” from him, he’s going to have to go through some tough contenders at 168, perhaps even guys at 175.

Edgar resembled a rehydrated cruiserweight for his fight against the obese-looking Gonzalez-Ortiz. Where on earth did Berlanga’s management find Gonzalez-Ortiz? He looked like someone who hangs out at all-you-can-eat buffet places.

If Berlanga is REALLY desperate to get a rematch with Canelo, he’s going to have to focus on tougher outs from this list:

– David Benavidez
– David Morrell
– Dmitry Bivol
– Artur Beterbiev
– Osleys Iglesias

Beating these guys would force Canelo to take notice of Berlanga and give him that “bag” that he’s chasing. That seems to be his career focus rather than winning world titles like regular fighters.

“I’m the king of the first-round knockouts, and I’m active. You got Turki Alalshikh there, who is ready to give anything to us,” said Munguia to Brian Campbell’s YouTube channel. “You got DAZN out there that is willing to give us the bag. I want to chop these guys down one by one. They start with Munguia, Caleb, [Jermall] Charlo, and the list keeps going on.

“Obviously, it’s about this [Berlanga scratches his fingers together to indicate that he wants money when asked if he’s looking for a short-term deal with a promoter]. We’re doing it for ourselves [me first attitude] and our pockets. The fight has got to make sense and the money has got to make sense. It has to be for a bag.

“People aren’t coming to watch these promoters. They’re coming to watch us. They’re coming to watch me and Munguia try and knock each other out. So, we got to get paid our bag.”