LAS VEGAS — Super welterweight fighter Tim Tszyu expects Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez to breeze past Edgar Berlanga when the popular Mexican returns to the ring September 14 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Canelo puts his WBC and WBO super middleweight world championship titles on the line atop a Premier Boxing Champions on Prime Video PPV card on Mexican Independence Day weekend.
Tszyu is one of numerous athletes, musicians, or celebrities who will walk the red carpet to attend one of boxing’s most glamorous weekends of the year.
However, Tszyu will stay tee-total as he has a fight of his own to prepare for.
As World Boxing News exclusively revealed last month, Tszyu will headline his own PBC event October 19 when he challenges Bakhram Murtazaliev for the IBF championship at 154 pounds in Orlando, Florida.
Tszyu will attend the Canelo vs Berlanga event, and will even comment on his fight next month on-air for Prime Video.
Ahead of the big event Saturday, Tszyu shared with World Boxing News his official prediction — an “easy” knockout win for Alvarez, one of boxing’s pound-for-pound staples in the modern era.
“Canelo stops him,” Tszyu told us after working out at the Split T Boxing Club in Las Vegas.
“I think Berlanga’s chinny,” he added. “I saw a video of Erickson Lubin dropping him. That’s a 154-pounder. So I think Canelo stops him easily.”
Canelo and Berlanga headline one of PBC’s biggest shows of the year as the September 14 slobberknocker also features Erislandy Lara against Danny Garcia, Rolando Romero and Caleb Plant in separate fights, and even Stephen Fulton on the prelims.
Tszyu’s fight against Murtazaliev headlines another PBC event next month, yet will take place on regular Prime Video, rather than pay-per-view.
This means Tszyu holds the record for two Prime Video events. Not only did he headline the first-ever boxing pay-per-view on Amazon, but he’ll now also headline PBC’s first-ever championship (non-PPV) event on Prime Video.
It is unclear, as of right now, who else will feature on the Tszyu vs Murtazaliev event.
Previous WBN reporting, though, indicates Tszyu hopes to make a swift return to the ring after his October title tilt against Murtazaliev as he hopes to fight for a third time in 2024 by competing against someone like Lubin in December.
Should all go to plan, he wants to fight a rematch with Sebastian Fundora early in 2025.
Alan Dawson is World Boxing News Lead Writer, a 2 x Sports Journalist of the Year finalist, and 5 x BWAA awards winner. Follow Alan @AlanDawsonSport.
