Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs Erislandy Lara
By James Lopez, RCM Boxing Correspondent
Las Vegas, NV (July 12, 2014)– Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (43-1-1 KO’s 31) was a boxing prodigy who turned pro at the age of 15. Alvarez comes from a boxing family where all of his seven older brothers boxed professionally. On one night they all fought on the same card. At the young age of 23 he has already shown potential to become the next great Mexican fighter. Alvarez will be facing off against another fighter who was also born to fight, Erislandy Lara (19-1-2 KO’s 12).
Lara comes from one of the boxing schools of Cuba, where kids as early as the age of 9 wake up at 6 in the morning to hone their skills. Cuba has a rich history of boxing talent in the amateur program. Sadly, and due to political issues, many of these talented Cuban fighters are not allowed to showcase their abilities in American soil. They are forced to stay in the amateur program and are sometimes seen in the streets with nothing to their name. Erislandy Lara, along with Guillermo Rigondeaux, were both arrested while trying to escape Cuba’s communist regime at one point. Fortunately, their second attempt was successful and can now provide a better life for their families.
Now Erislandy Lara or “The American Dream” as he likes to call himself will be able to showcase his talents on U.S. soil against boxing’s superstar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez . Both fighters will test their skills against one another on June 12 which promises to be an interesting bout.
Here is the Breakdown of the Fight
Size and Style
Alvarez stands at 5’9 with a 70 inch reach. Erislandy Lara will come in at 5’9 with a 75 inch reach. The five inch reach advantage Lara possesses will be an important factor given the fact the majority of the fight will take place on the outside. The reason being is Alvarez is not a pressure fighter, his nature is to outbox his opponent. Alvarez only looks like an aggressive fighter who pursues the knockout when he faces an opponent whose preferred style is to brawl, such as Alfredo Angulo or Josesito Lopez. A fighter who fights off his back foot can keep Alvarez at a distance, this was evident in the Austin Trout bout.
Erislandy Lara has a similar boxing style to Austin Trout where they both prefer to fight at long range and fight off their back foot. Lara sometimes invites his opponent to fight in the pocket at times and this can be his downfall in fighting Alvarez. His two fights where he did not look too well were against Carlos Molina and Alfredo Angulo. A common theme in both fights was that Lara remained stationary with his high guard up at certain spots in the fight. He did this to try and counter his opponent on the inside. As a result, Carlos Molina was able to outwork him in certain spots.
Perhaps Lara felt Molina’s punches were unable to hurt him so he invited him to fight in the pocket. This caused him to lose rounds. In Alfredo Angulo’s case, Lara was having success countering Angulo on the inside early in the fight. In the 4th round, Angulo caught Lara with a left hook during an exchange. The exchange took place while Lara was against the ropes and trying to catch and counter Angulo’s punches. After the knockdown Lara constantly kept moving but at times still got caught up in staying against the ropes or stationary. The reason being was Angulo’s constant pressure made it difficult for Lara to constantly move the three minutes of every round.
When Lara fought Vanes Martirosyan he hardly stayed in the pocket. Martiriosyan was 32-0 with 21 KO’s at the time. Lara knew he had good power and was able to constantly stay on the outside comfortably because Martiriosyan was not a pressure fighter, but a boxer puncher. Since Lara knows Alvarez has good power, he will most likely stay away from the pocket and try to outbox Alvarez from the outside. He has shown he can constantly use his legs throughout the bout against Martirosyan. If Lara can maintain distance between him and Alvarez the way Trout was able to do so, it will be a competitive fight. On the other hand, if Lara remains stationary with his guard up at certain times points in the fight, Alvarez should have his way.
Power and Chin
Alvarez is a big puncher. This allows him to always be in the fight even if he falls behind on the scorecards. Alvarez, with a clean shot, has the potential to knockdown Lara at any point and earn himself a 10-8 round. In this type of fight, every point matters. Alvarez was able to knockdown Austin Trout with a single counter right off a Trout jab. Lara can go also go down with a flush shot as proven in the Angulo bout.
What Lara also proved in the Angulo fight is after being knocked down he can get back up and continue to win rounds. Alvarez, surprisingly, after knocking down Trout, did not go for the finish. Trout continued to box and actually won the majority of the 7th round, which was the same round Trout got knocked down in. If Lara does get knocked down at any point of the fight expect him to get back up and continue the game plan of trying to outbox Alvarez. It still remains a question if Alvarez can actually knock out Lara, he might have the power to do so but it will be difficult to land that type of shot on Lara.
Erislandy Lara has good power of his own. He has enough power where he can possibly stun Alvarez. It is not likely for Lara to have enough power to knockdown or knockout Alvarez. Angulo’s punching power did not seem to bother Alvarez the entire bout so he does have a good chin, but as long as Lara can earn Alvarez’s respect that should be enough. The game plan for Lara is to box, not look for the knockout.
The one thing that has not been shown from Lara is too much power from his right hand, which is his lead hand. Alvarez has shown to have power in either hand even when popping his jab.
Combinations
Alvarez typically throws single shots or two punch combinations against a defensive moving fighter. It will be difficult to get off three to four punch combinations on Lara. When Alvarez fights off his back foot he is much more inactive. He tries to set traps and sometimes allows his opponent to outwork him because he is too defensive minded. Alvarez does his best work while coming forward.
Erislandy Lara’s offensive output is similar. He tends to throw single shots or two punch combinations. His offensive output remains the same when fighting coming forward or going backwards. He likes to set up his combinations off his jab.
Expect both fighters to fight at a distance and pick their shots. Both fighters are counter punchers as well which might cause a slight inactivity during some rounds. This can cause the crowd to erupt every time Alvarez lands or comes close to landing a punch which may influence the way judges score rounds.
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