Edgar Berlanga walked onto the Palladium Times Square stage shirtless for the Canelo Alvarez-Berlanga New York City press conference Monday as if he was ready to fight the boxing legend right then and there.
By the conference's end, Berlanga just couldn't resist whispering a caveat in Alvarez's ear ahead of their September 14 clash, live on DAZN .
"We're trying to become a legend," Berlanga started telling a pool of reporters.
"I got to beat that man across from me.
"He told me it's going to be something different, but I told him it's going to be something different."
The 27-year-old Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) propelled his name up the boxing ranks on the strength of 16 first-round knockouts to launch his career.
Since then, five of his last six victories have come by unanimous decision, though he did produce a sixth-round TKO of Padraig McCrory in February to become the mandatory challenger for Alvarez's unified super middleweight world championship.
Eddie Hearn, the Matchroom Boxing promoter who's backing Berlanga and formerly promoted Alvarez, vowed that the Brooklyn, New York fighter will stand and trade shots in the pocket with the champ.
“I know Canelo wants real fights and guys who will come at him to win. Edgar will come for a firefight," Hearn promised to the media.
"It’s even deeper than Puerto Rico vs. Mexico, because this is the opportunity of a lifetime for Edgar Berlanga."
Berlanga added on: "It’s will versus will. It's who can break whose will. It's lion versus lion and you know I'm Puerto Rican, I'm young, I'm strong and it's going to be fireworks September 14. I'm not running, we're not going nowhere. We're going to stay right there and we're going to do what we do."
The idea of a firefight was music to Alvarez's ears.
"I love it," the boxing icon said with a grin.
"I really love it. I don't expect anything else. I know he's going to come to bring everything and me too. That's the fight, I really like it. I love it and I'm going to enjoy it a lot."
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