'Scumbag' – Edgar Berlanga blasts Oscar De La Hoya over Canelo Alvarez fight comments

09/09/2024 05:24 AM

Edgar Berlanga has hit back at Oscar De La Hoya after he branded his upcoming clash with Canelo Alvarez a ‘snoozefest’.

Canelo is set to defend his WBA, WBC, and WBO super-middleweight championships against Berlanga on September 14 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The fight has received a mixed reaction, with several members of the boxing fraternity insisting that Berlanga hasn’t fought a high enough calibre of opposition to warrant a shot at three of the four major sanctioning body belts.

Among the biggest critics of the fight is De La Hoya, who has been embroiled in a bitter feud with Canelo since the Mexican’s acrimonious split from Golden Boy Promotions in 2021.

“I'm the PPV king and @Canelo vs @EdgarBerlangaJr fight will not exceed 100k homes,” he tweeted.

“Nobody is paying $90 for this snooze fest. Just speaking the facts as always.”

Taking exception to De La Hoya’s comments, Berlanga replied: “How can a scumbag like Oscar hate on me and the event?

“You somebody a lot of fighters looked up to. You are a f***ing w***er @OscarDeLaHoya.”

Canelo was initially ordered by the IBF to face mandatory challenger William Scull next.

However, the former pound-for-pound king chose to face Berlanga instead as it made ‘more financial sense’.

As a result, Canelo was stripped of the IBF strap and thus his undisputed status at 168lbs.

A vacant IBF title fight was then ordered between Scull and Vladimir Shishkin.

The clash is being eyed for October 19 in Falkansee, Germany as part of an event co-promoted by Agon Sports and Kuc Boxing.

Responding to Canelo’s refusal to face him, Scull said: “Maybe this was not the moment and Canelo said ‘let’s leave the Cuban now that he is not very well known, let’s see if he becomes world champion, if he becomes world champion let’s unify’

“That’s one of the things I think and maybe for me, as a business, it’s great.

“To become world champion and then unify with Canelo, that way I make different history.

“The truth is I would like to make a fight now, it didn’t happen now, maybe it can happen in a few years down the road.”

If he doesn’t face the winner of Scull-Shishkin then the expectation is for Canelo to box Terence Crawford next.

The fight has long been at the top of HE Turki Alalshikh’s wishlist and the Saudi boxing chief recently insisted that Crawford isn’t interested in any other fights.