By Dan Ambrose: Former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (43-1-1, 31 KO’s) was hunting for reasons last night why he’ll beat WBA junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara (19-1-2, 12 KO’s) when asked last night by Showtime why he’ll beat the Cuban fighter on July 12th. To the 23-year-old Canelo, he sees his experience as being the major factor why he’ll beat the 31-year-old Lara when they meet each other on Showtime pay-per-view from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Canelo has been in the ring with the likes of Floyd Mayweather Jr, Austin Trout, Kermit Cintron, Matthew Hatton, Alfonso Gomez, Josesito Lopez, Shane Mosley, Ryan Rhodes, Carlos Manuel Baldomir, Lovemore Ndou and Jose Miguel Cotto. Most of those guys were smaller than Canelo though, and older too.
Canelo said to Showtime, “My experience and my opposition that I’ve fought [are the reasons I’ll be Lara]. I know that Erislandy Lara is very dangerous and difficult fighter, but that’s why I want to give this fight to the fans and the public. These are the type of fights I’m all about.”
You really have to throw out virtually all of those previous fights that Canelo has had and focus just on how he did against Trout and Mayweather. Those are the only two good fighters that Canelo has ever fought before, and he looked poor in both fights. Trout fought Canelo to a standstill last year in April, and Mayweather easily beat Canelo. So what Canelo’s advantage in experience tells you is that he doesn’t have the skills to handle boxers with fast hand speed.
Lara has been in with Vanes Martirosyan, Carlos Molina, Trout and Alfredo Angulo. But he’s a very tough match-up for Canelo due to his hand speed and his Mayweather like fighting style. Canelo is going to have a lot of problems trying to land his shots against him because he’s going to be on the move constantly.
If Canelo loses to Lara, he’ll miss out on his second biggest payday of his career against Miguel Cotto. That’s a fight that Canelo has wanted for at least 2 years now, and a loss to Lara would likely permanently derail any plans of that fight taking place.
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