Canelo Alvarez rolls past Edgar Berlanga in one-sided decision - ESPN

LAS VEGAS — Canelo Alvarez, boxing's top star, retained his unified super middleweight championship with a unanimous decision victory over Edgar Berlanga on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.

Alvarez floored Berlanga with a monstrous left hook in Round 3 — his money punch — and prevailed via scores of 117-110, 118-109 and 118-109. ESPN scored it a 120-107 shutout.

This was the fifth consecutive decision victory for Alvarez, who hasn't scored a knockout win since he defeated Caleb Plant in November 2021. It's also the fourth consecutive bout where Alvarez scored a knockdown.

«Now what are they gonna say?» Alvarez, 34, said during his postfight interview. «I fight younger fighters. They say I fight older fighters. They always talk.… My experience, my talent, my hard work, my intelligence, everything together [makes me the best]. If you have talent but you don't have discipline, you have nothing.»

Alvarez, ESPN's No. 5 pound-for-pound boxer, is an all-time great. Berlanga, meanwhile, was fighting on the world-class level for the first time. Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs) was a -1600 favorite, per ESPN BET, and a -250 favorite to earn the win inside the distance.

However, Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) rarely threw a power punch, clearly wary of presenting a counter-punching opportunity for one of the sport's best at capitalizing on such openings. Following the knockdown, as Berlanga sat on the canvas and banged his gloves together, he entered survival mode.

Alvarez pressed forward and tried to close distance as Berlanga pumped his jab from out of range. And while Berlanga was rugged on the inside and showed some toughness, he clearly wasn't willing to sell out and risk becoming a knockout victim.

«I'm upset,» Berlanga said. «I fought a