LAS VEGAS — Canelo Alvarez connected with one of his patented left hooks in the chin of Edgar Berlanga in round 3, sending the underdog down.

Berlanga banged his gloves together in frustration and collected himself, then pumped his jab from the outside, avoiding the right hand that had initially made him a name for himself.

Berlanga may have earned a moral victory by reaching the final bell. For Canelo, it was the fourth straight match in which he has floored his opponent but settled for a decision win.

Regardless, Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs) didn’t seem concerned that he hasn’t scored a KO since November 2021.

“What are they going to say now?” Alvarez, 34, said during his post-fight interview. “I’m fighting younger fighters. They say I’m fighting older fighters. They always talk. … My experience, my talent, my hard work, my intelligence, everything together (makes me the best).”

What they might say: Canelo was a -1600 favorite and after a string of wins over fighters who are absolutely not on his level since his loss to Dmitry Bivol in May 2022, he needs a challenge. Fortunately, there are options to cure what ails boxing’s greatest star. One fighter hoping to land the gig is Terence Crawford, who was ringside.

Crawford compared his quest to get a shot at Canelo to the 1983 Marvin Hagler-Robert Duran fight (Duran went down from 154 pounds to 154). “Except the smaller guy wins this fight,” Crawford told ESPN on Thursday.

Canelo’s next fight could be a major departure from his last four, in which he’s been heavily favored to win. It could be a return to elite competition, his toughest fight since being defeated by Bivol. The potential assignment for Alvarez’s anticipated return on Cinco De Mayo weekend next year? A rematch against Bivol, if all goes according to plan.

Bivol defeated Canelo in a light heavyweight title defense despite the narrow margins on the scorecards (115-113 three times). And if Bivol can defeat Artur Beterbiev in a long-awaited coin-flip bout for the undisputed light heavyweight championship on Oct. 12 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Alvarez told ESPN on Wednesday that he is interested in a rematch.

Alvarez is motivated, he said, to exact revenge on the only man other than Floyd Mayweather who has defeated him in his 66 pro fights. The Mexican icon is also excited about the idea of ​​becoming the undisputed champion in a second weight class.

“Nothing was right for me in that fight (against Bivol),” said Alvarez. Canelo has been nursing a left wrist injury and later underwent surgery following his September 2022 victory in his third meeting with Gennadiy Golovkin.

With his surgically repaired lead hand, Canelo scored a knockdown in his next three fights (John Ryder, Jermell Charlo and Jaime Munguia) before scoring a knockdown of Berlanga on Saturday. All four opponents were given little chance to beat Canelo, but if Canelo fights Bivol again, he’ll be in rare underdog territory.

“I don’t think I should lose that fight, but it is what it is,” Alvarez said. He added that he’s motivated by the chance to fight Bivol “because he’s 100 percent there.” Of course, Bivol must first defeat Beterbiev, the only boxing champion with a 100 percent KO ratio; Bivol is a -125 favorite, according to ESPN BET.

“He has the ability to (beat Beterbiev),” Canelo said, adding that he is only interested in Bivol if he wins, not Beterbiev. “… Beterbiev is a strong fighter, he is a good fighter, and it’s going to be a tough fight.”

There’s still one hurdle, though. Alvarez expressed interest in a Bivol rematch after his May 2023 win over Ryder, but only at 175 pounds (where the first meeting took place). Bivol insisted that a return fight take place at 168 pounds for Alvarez’s undisputed super middleweight championship.

It could be a thorny issue again, although Alvarez represents the biggest payday for Bivol, as Canelo does for any potential opponent.

“I need motivation,” Bivol, ESPN’s No. 4 pound-for-pound fighter, told ESPN this past summer. “And fighting him, it’s not an easy fight. And I beat him at 175. Why should I fight him again? Well, let’s try for his belt, but he doesn’t want this fight (at 168) and I don’t care.

“Of course, inside he feels that he won that match. But we are athletes. We could find excuses every time and we could find reasons every time why it happened. Every time I finish my match I think: oh, I could have fought better, but I didn’t because this and that because I had pain in my leg or because I had a bad breakfast or something else.”

Alvarez has found reasons to turn down a fight with volume-punching and longtime mandatory challenger David Benavidez, who has long lobbied for a matchup with Canelo. Benavidez eventually moved up to 175 pounds in June and was unimpressive in a win over Oleksandr Gvozdyk, though Benavidez was dealing with a torn ligament in his hand.

Canelo still has no interest in meeting Benavidez.

“He’s fighting in his own weight class, 175, and he doesn’t look like he always does (in appearance), because it’s different when you fight in your weight class,” Alvarez said.

The other attractive option for Canelo is Crawford, ESPN’s No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter. The former undisputed welterweight champion made his 154-pound debut with a decision win over Ismail Madrimov last month, but he was far from dominant against a vastly underrated fighter who reigned as junior middleweight champion.

The 37-year-old Crawford continues to campaign for a shot at Canelo at the 168-pound weight limit, despite still being two weight classes (or 14 pounds) below Alvarez. While there are plenty of questions about Crawford’s ability to compete with Canelo’s height advantage, there is no doubting Crawford’s talent or the commercial viability of the event.

A Canelo-Crawford fight is arguably the biggest fight in heavyweight boxing. Crawford is gunning for it, and for more than just the huge payday it would bring.

“I feel like it’s a legacy fight and I feel like it’s a fight that I can actually win,” Crawford said. “I’ve always been a smaller guy. Every weight class I’ve ever fought in, everyone always said I was too small for this guy, too small for that guy, and I always came out successful in the fight. Being bigger doesn’t win fights. So my skill pays the bills and my skill has gotten me this far.

“I think it would make it clear who is No. 1 in the post-Mayweather era, who is the king of kings.”

Crawford has not come this close to losing, although Madrimov gave him his toughest fight. He has moved up the weight classes since winning his first lightweight championship, becoming the undisputed champion at both junior welterweight and welterweight. And, as Crawford points out, he is both taller than Canelo and has a longer reach (½ inch in height and 3½ in reach).

Still, Canelo is much bigger than he is tall and has the punching power to match. Tenn. of Canelo’s last 13 fights have been contested at 168 pounds — two at 175 and one at 160. The last time Canelo fought at 154 pounds? September 2016.

“If I beat him, nobody’s going to say, ‘Oh, he beat Crawford because (Canelo) is a good fighter,'” Canelo said. “He’s great pound-for-pound too, but he’s smaller. You’re going to see, ‘but he’s small and this.’ But if the money is good, why not, at this point in my career.”

Canelo is referring to his legacy already secured as one of the all-time greats and the face of the sport. He earns over $35 million every time he steps through the ropes, and there’s nothing left for him to prove.

He still has the hunger to compete and train hard, and at some point he will definitely want to challenge himself. That means a fight with Bivol or Crawford next.

“I’ve been fighting the best and I’m still doing good things,” Canelo said. “I’m the best in the world.”