By Dan Ambrose: Erislandy Lara (19-1-2, 12 KO’s) insists that there is no way that Golden Boy Promotions “Pretty Boy,” as he calls Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (43-1-2, 31 KO’s), will be able to come away with a victory in their Showtime pay-per-view bout next Saturday night, July 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Lara says that the only way Canelo beats him in this fight is if he kills him, because he won’t let the 23-year-old fighter take food out of the mouths of his children in giving into him.
“We are both in the fight of our lives, because he wants to bring back the Canelo that had Golden Boy promise that he had before – Golden Boy’s pretty boy,” Lara said in the Showtime preview. “He [Canelo] wants to bring back the fans…I believe on July 12th, they will have to kill me to come away with a victory. That’s the only way he can beat me. If he doesn’t do that, he will have some big problems on that night.”
There’s no question that Lara will give Canelo big, big problems next Saturday night, but that doesn’t mean that Canelo won’t have rounds given to him anyway. As we saw in his fight against Austin Trout last year, Canelo is hard to beat by a decision because he gets the benefit of the doubt in rounds due to his punches being harder. If he’s out-punched by a wide margin like he was in the Trout fight in many of the rounds, the judges seemed to focus on his harder landing shots when scoring the rounds. That’s why Lara will need to sit down on his shots for him to have a chance of winning the fight, because it might not be enough for him to outland Canelo 4 to 1, or to make him miss all night long.
If Canelo is still landing 4-5 hard blows per rounds, I see him getting the nod in every round even if he’s out-hit by a wide margin. The judges are likely going to focus on which guy is landing the harder shots, and Canelo obviously will have the advantage due to his superior power.
“I will never give him the opportunity to take food away from my children,” Lara said. “I’m going to win. I’m going to find a way to come out victorious from my situation, because I see victory as food for my children, and that’s the most important thing for me. For me it is also a big opportunity. I never had the chance to fight in a pay-per-view event before. I feel very proud to be able to do that.”
Lara is going to need to stay in the pocket much of the time the same way that Floyd Mayweather Jr did in beating Canelo last year in September, because if he moves around the ring and tries to be too slick the way that Austin Trout did in the first four rounds of their open scoring fight last year in April, then I see the judges giving Canelo every round of the fight. Canelo is very popular, and even though he’s not a world champion, his popularity makes him difficult to beat by a decision.
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