Roy Jones Jr. Bails on Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga to Catch UFC Noche Live at Sphere

This weekend marks the Mexican Independence Day weekend and there are two big evens on the same day. On one hand, the UFC are vowing to put on a historic, never before seen show at The Sphere in Las Vegas. On the other hand, there is Canelo Alvarez who always shows out for his Mexican people during their Independence Day weekend. And Roy Jones Jr. knows which event he’s going to show up at.

It seems that the former champion, despite being a boxer himself will be picking the UFC event over the boxing event this weekend.

Although it’s not clear why he would not be watching the Alvarez fight but it could be assumed that since the arena and the visual experience that the UFC is promising, UFC Noche could be a unique experience.

In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani , Jones called for the boxing promoters to learn a bit from the UFC.

“They got a historic MMA fight going on in The Sphere, and I wanna see that….I love firsts, that’s when you’re really breaking ground you’re setting a path….They better learn from the UFC.”

 

Earlier, boxing veteran Oscar De La Hoya had also talked about watching UFC Noche instead of the Alvarez fight since he believes that the boxer is taking on another subpar opponent and charging fans a lot to watch a snoozefest.

Mind you, Alvarez has also been accused of ducking David Benavidez to take on Edgar Berlanga over the Mexican Independence Day weekend. However, despite his MMA destination, Roy Jones Jr. doesn’t believe it to be true.

Roy Jones Jr. backs Canelo, rubbishes ducking allegations

Fans and have been very critical of Canelo Alvarez’s choice in opponents. Berlanga, while talented, is simply not on par with the champion and is seen as a way to put another number in the win column for Alvarez. That has been in line with the Mexican boxer’s last few fights where many have complained that he picks and chooses his opponents too much.

Now, Benavidez would have been a nightmare match up for the boxer. But Jones believes that doesn’t mean he would be able to defeat the Mexican maverick.

In an interview with FightHubTv, he spoke about what Benavidez brings to the table as an opponent but still had Canelo’s back,

“Throws a lot of punches, who we haven’t really seen hurt yet, who has a very good gas tank, and who’s big for the weight class. Everything Canelo don’t want to see, David Benavidez is that. That don’t mean David Benavidez is going to beat him.”

The point he’s tried to make here is that champ has fought fighters like Benavidez all his career and ‘The Mexican Monster’ does not bring anything that Canelo hasn’t seen before. But then again, we don’t actually know till they fight.