By Dan Ambrose: WBA junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara (19-2-2, 12 KO’s) was getting some grief by a reporter last night following his spirited performance in losing a very controversial 12 round split decision to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KO’s) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Lara compared the way he fought Canelo with the way that Floyd Mayweather Jr did, and feels he should have been given the nod by the judges.
An unnamed reporter though feels that Lara didn’t show enough to win the fight.
Lara said “Injustice. Injustice. But that’s how business is. I hurt him in the fight. I made him look bad. What else can I do? I took him to school and I did what I wanted to with him. I made him miss and look bad in front of his own people. He never hurt me in the fight. Did you see me hurt in the fight? I’m asking you did you see me hurt in the fight.”
The reporter then said “When a fighter doesn’t fight the judges have to give the round to the fighter that’s aggressive.”
Lara said “Look here why don’t you compare my fight with the Floyd Mayweather fight. What did you Mayweather do?
Reporter: “Floyd Mayweather did more than you today.”
Lara: “Bull [expletive].”
I think what Mayweather did and Lara did to Canelo was very, very close. The main difference between them was that Mayweather stayed in the pocket more during the first 9 rounds, and made Canelo pay each time he tried to land something. But Canelo put pressure on Mayweather in rounds 10 through 12, and the fight was similar at that point in how Lara fought Canelo. Mayweather got the victory though while Lara got the defeat.
I think neither fighter established themselves as the clear victor. I thought Lara might have done enough to win the fight by 2-4 rounds just based on him being the only one that landed anything substantial in rounds 1-4 and 9-12, but it you wanted to give Canelo some of those rounds based on him merely coming forward and pressuring without being able to land, then I can see how two of the judges would have given Canelo the victory. But a judge is supposed to score rounds on shots landed, not on someone merely coming forward with his head down like a bull.
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