Edgar Berlanga spoke career-defining bout with Canelo Alvarez into existence

Every single time, Edgar Berlanga brought up the same name. The Post has interviewed the 27-year-old Brooklyn native five times as he has risen from one of boxing’s most exciting prospects to one of the sport’s most polarizing contenders.Regardless of his stature at the time, the same end goal, and icon, emerged without fail. Canelo Alvarez. Once a far-off dream has now become his current reality.

Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) will challenge the legendary Alvarez (61-2-2) for his unified WBC, WBA and WBO super middleweight world titles Saturday night (8 p.m.ET, Amazon Prime PPV, PPV.com) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.  “It came faster than I expected,” Berlanga told The Post.

“I definitely brought this into existence, I spoke this into existence.Keeping god first throughout my hard work, staying consistent, we got the opportunity.

Sometimes I feel like it’s fate.Me watching the interviews with him or the press tour that we did, I’m like ‘damn, I did it.’ Or seeing my last name with his, it’s crazy.

I’m blessed. “I think it’s the perfect time for everything.Everything is just aligning the way it should be.” Berlanga’s path to Saturday’s career-defining moment certainly wasn’t linear. After emerging as a burgeoning star and ascending attraction — who incorporated hip-hop superstars Fat Joe, Luar La L and other Puerto Rican artists in his walkout entrances and earned “The Monster” as his nickname — by knocking out his first 16 opponents in the first round, Berlanga began to face questions about his legitimacy. He went the distance in his next four fights as the quality of his opponents increased, and though he won all by unanimous decision, they were in far less impressive or dominant fashion as his previous showings. He faced heavy criticism — that he was overrated, a product of favorable matchmaking, that his knockout streak wasn’t truly indicative of his ability. He was suspended for six months after trying to...