I came to fight, not run a marathon. You win a fight by hitting, not running. — CANELO
I was controlling all the rounds and made him look bad in front of his fans. — LARA
Photo Credits: Tom Hogan/Golden Boy, Esther Lin/Showtime
LAS VEGAS — Robbery! Running! These were among the buzzwords in boxing circles with Canelo Alvarez winning a disputed split decision over Erislandy Lara last night at the MGM Grand. The main event, while intriguing from a scoring and tactical standpoint due to Lara’s keep-away strategy and Canelo’s struggles to find consistent offense, is probably one Showtime has no interest in replaying despite the sketchy scoring from judge Levi Martinez, whose 117-111 verdict for Canelo was the deciding vote. As Erislandy Lara’s team no doubt prepares to flood the boxing media this coming week with interviews calling for a scoring investigation, I argue that Lara’s criticism needs to begin no further than with himself and the tactics he employed.
LARA’S GOOD START, POOR MIDDLE AND DECENT FINISH: Lara jumped out the gate using every inch of the ring to create a significant gulf between himself and Alvarez. Wary of Lara’s left hand accuracy, Canelo would only unleash blows when he felt Lara was corned. That allowed the Cuban to land the best punches of the early rounds via right jabs and hard straight lefts. Canelo found success in the second and fourth rounds with hard body shots. Weighing of 170 pounds, Canelo was able to use to these shots to push Lara into retreat the few times the fight went inside.
After six, I had it even on my card. Then the problems started on Lara’s end. Whether it was due to the cut he suffered over his right eye in the seventh, or just straight coasting, Lara began to focus more on movement than punching. To his credit, Lara was still able to make Canelo miss on his biggest shots upstairs, but the most meaningful punches were coming courtesy of Canelo’s body shots. At times, you could see Lara visibly drop his hands to regroup after they landed. This went on from rounds 7-9, and you can add the sixth as a possible Canelo round due to Lara spending more time complaining to the ref about low blows than actually looking to counter Canelo’s punches.
Lara did finally get back on track in the 10th by landing some clean left hands upstairs and moving enough to prevent Canelo’s body work. The 11th was close, as Canelo got some traction back with isolated body shots, and the 12th was punctuated by a closing Lara combination that stopped Canelo in his tracks.
My final score was 115-113 Canelo. One judge agreed, and the other had it reversed for Lara. The deciding score of 117-111, while very poor, reflected the assumption we all had going in that at least one judge would give Canelo the benefit of the doubt in every close round.
KNOW YOUR ENVIRONMENT: This performance should be extremely disappointing if you’re a Lara fan. After how he was robbed several years ago against Paul Williams (in New Jersey, no less), Lara should have come into this fight highly cognizant that the Las Vegas judges would do him no favors. Instead, he fought like he was the favorite when just a few more well-placed counter shots could have swung those quiet middle rounds in his favor. Vegas, and American judges overall, are known for favoring aggression in close rounds. How this never dawned on Lara’s camp is anyone’s guess.
WILL LARA LEARN?: I’m in agreement that Levi Martinez’s score was too wide in Canelo’s favor. However, the robbery talk may end up being a detriment to Lara, who’ll believe he needs to make no adjustments to his style going forward. For all his talk about the Cuban School of fighting, he may want to remember that even a guy like Guillermo Rigondeaux consistently makes an opponent pay for missed shots. The countering and varied offense was missing from Lara’s game last night.
MAYWEATHER IN PERSPECTIVE: Erislandy Lara is a very good boxer. With that said, this fight drives home how dynamic and talented Floyd Mayweather truly is. In his Canelo fight, Mayweather was able to counter in the pocket, nullify Canelo’s body shots, move when needed, and have the young redhead utterly confused. Lara failed to have any of that offensive or defensive creativity and failed to adjust tactics. It was especially apparent on offense with Lara throwing a minimal amount of body shots and repetitive 1-2s.
Lara now goes to the back of the line and assuredly off pay-per-view for the immediate future. Canelo still has a potential money fight against Miguel Cotto on the horizon.
JUANMA FALLS FOR THE LAST TIME: Juan Manuel Lopez was in familiar territory against Francisco Vargas when he found himself dropped and hurt in the third round. He had been hurt in the previous round and decided to go to war in hopes of replicating the thrilling comeback we saw in his last bout against Daniel Ponce de Leon. Unfortunately for JuanMa, the youth and strength of Vargas had him beating Lopez to the punch in every brutal exchange. The end was fitting for a proud but finished former champion. He got through the round on his feet and throwing haymakers, but his corner saw the inevitable and pulled him from further punishment. Although only 31 years old, JuanMa should strongly consider hanging up the gloves.
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HERRERA KEEPS MOMENTUM WITH MAJORITY DECISION OVER PEREZ: Mauricio Herrera keep his name in the title picture at 140 with a majority decision (114-114, 116-112 twice) over Johan Perez. Herrera got the job done with an unrelenting body attack coupled with counter overhand rights that destroyed Perez’s rhythm. The draw score was a stretch from my viewpoint, but Perez showed a lot of heart and won rounds on sheer activity. The win makes Herrera the interim WBA junior welterweight champ. Don’t hold your breath for a Danny Garcia rematch since Garcia will likely face Lamont Peterson after “Swift” gets a soft touch against Rod Salka next month.
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ABNER MARES RETURNS WITH UD WIN: It wasn’t pretty, but Abner Mares is back in the win column after 11 months with a unanimous decision over Jonathan Oquendo. This wasn’t the Mares we’re accustomed to — the vicious aggression was noticeably absent (except a brief sequence of in-fighting when Mares was cut early on). Oquendo was game, but Mares’ class allowed him to simply outbox him from mid-range and clinch when needed. The crowd booed lustily, and now many are already blaming Mares’ new coach, Virgil Hunter, for attempting to turn Mares into a “miniature Andre Ward.”
I wouldn’t go that far at this stage. Mares is coming off a devastating first round KO and nearly a one-year layoff, so let’s give him at least two more fights to get acclimated.
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Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 