By D.A: Since my last article on Manny Pacquiao vs. Tim Bradley 2 received positive comments, I intend to do the same with my analysis of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Erislandy Lara, which is a possibility for Canelo’s July 26th PPV bout. Earlier today I read an article on Canelo (43-1-1, 31 KOs) looking at Lara as a future opponent and Alvarez to be talking to his promoters at the Golden Boy headquarters in the coming weeks for his future opponent.
Alvarez surely must be interested in fighting Lara due to him recently being elevated as the WBA’s regular 154 world champion- a title Alvarez once held in beating Austin Trout in a close contested fight. We’ve seen Lara (19-1-2, 12 KOs) take shots at Alvarez on twitter challenging the young Mexican star to a bout with insults to get under Alvarez’s skin. The former champ kept quiet and let Lara do his talking. The latest attempt to lure Alvarez into a bout was Lara getting up at Canelo’s post fight conference and challenging him to a fight in front of the media and fans.
In my opinion this fight would do well on PPV due to fans actually wanting to see Canelo take on Lara. The slick Cuban southpaw stated he’d also like to face WBA Middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin and the P4P king Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Lara deserves a payday and the exposure on a big stage, and you can’t blame him. He’s been robbed twice in his career at the hands of Paul Williams and Vanes Martirosyan, and has had to go through the hard way of a boxing career to earn his stripes. I agree with him being promoted to the regular WBA champ and that position just might secure him to his grand payday against Alvarez on July 26th, if not, November 22.
Now let’s talk Alvarez, people have been real hard on the young Mexican criticizing him on taking on Alfredo “El perro” Angulo coming off a loss instead of Lara. My question is to the fans why is it okay for Lara to get Austin Trout off a loss? And why is it not okay for Alvarez? I always thought Alvarez would eventually face Lara but in the meantime Lara should stay busy and look to get in a unification bout with Carlos Molina, a man who many people thought legitimately beat Lara. That’s besides the point now, Lara is doing good by staying busy and fighting in what I call a tune up bout against 154 contender Ishe Smith. That’s a relatively easy fight for Lara in which I see him out-boxing Smith to a shutout unanimous decision.
Lara is one of them types of a fighters where he is hard to outbox and is constantly moving which frustrates his opponents. But Angulo was the first man to put Lara down twice and work his body with solid shots to his kidney. Lara kept his composure and kept using his boxing to eventually left Angulo with a damaged orbital bone. Angulo was forced to quit in the 10th and which gave Lara the TKO victory.
As for Alvarez he didn’t give Angulo any chance to find his rhythm instead worked his body early and stunned him with solid hooks to the head which was painful to watch. Alvarez did the better job against Angulo but Lara did the better job against Trout. I want to clarify to fans this does not mean a thing and does not determine who’d be the better fighter in a fight between these two.
It means styles makes fights- something most fans forget to remember or don’t even know. I see a fight between Alvarez and Lara being much closer than expected. Alvarez is a strong boxer who counter punches well and can set up some killer combinations. Lara is a slick southpaw who can seemingly outbox anyone by pot-shotting and throwing them off their game. It is indeed a intriguing matc-hup and I hope Alvarez does the right thing by choosing the man who has his ex title.
It’s a 50/50 fight and there’s not many options right now at 154. Molina is a fighter that some fans don’t want to see and has legal issues to fix, Demetrius Andrade (HBO-no need to explain), Miguel Cotto (facing Sergio Martinez), Martirosyan is not worthy in my view, and James Kirkland has been long laid off and needs time to get his career together. But then again I see another 8 month layoff for Kirkland before he gets another fight, which is not a good sign. So all directions are pointing towards Lara as the reasonable and worthy choice as Alvarez’s next opponent. Lara has the WBA title which Alvarez also said he’d like back. So let’s hope this fight gets made and is announced soon (Cross your fingers). Let me know what you guys think.
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