Canelo rules out facing Erislandy Lara again

By Boxing News - 05/11/2015 - Comments

Image: Canelo rules out facing Erislandy Lara again(Photo Credit:Ed Mulholland/Golden Boy/Golden Boy via Getty Images) By Dan Ambrose: Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs) made it clear last Saturday night that he doesn’t plan on fighting WBA junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara again despite the fact that there’s lingering doubt whether the 24-year-old Canelo deserved the 12 round split decision he was given over Lara last year in July.

As far as Canelo’s concerned, the Lara chapter is over with and he’s ready to move on towards opponents that he feels have a more exciting style that will make for great fights. Unfortunately, Canelo has been facing weak opposition lately in search of finding opposition that make for exciting fights.

In two of his last three fights, Canelo has fought Kirkland and Alfredo Angulo, neither of which is ranked in the top 15. Canelo found two slow guys that hadn’t fought in a long period of time and had gained a lot of weight during their time off from the sport.

“First of all, who wants to see that marathon again?” Canelo said about a rematch with Lara at the post-fight press conference last Saturday. “With all due respect I think fans want to see fights; they want to see great fights and his [Lara] style doesn’t make for great fights.”

If Canelo fights the likes of WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto next in September, or if he faces Demetrius Andrade or the Charlo brothers, then you can excuse Canelo for not fighting Lara again. But if he drags out someone like Joshua Clottey, who he wanted to fight last December, then that’s not an upgrade over Lara.

Clottey is just an aging contender, and his chances of winning a world title at his age appear to be dim. Yeah, Canelo is fighting guys that are known for being offensive fighters, but he’s facing weak opposition. Kirkland hadn’t fought in a year and a half, and he had never established himself as being a great fighter. He was just a crude slugger with a chin problem.

If Canelo can get the Cotto fight and then face Gennady Golovkin immediately after that, then you have to respect the direction that Canelo’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya is taking with him. But De La Hoya already said last Saturday that he has no intention of matching Canelo up against Golovkin for another two years.

If Canelo isn’t going to fight Golovkin for two more years if then, it’s going to leave Canelo fighting a lot of different guys at 154 and possibly 147.



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