On July 12th, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Saul Alvarez and Erislandy Lara step into the ring to decide 154 pound supremacy. Alvarez is coming off a 10th round demolition of Alfredo Angulo in March, and Lara, a decorated Cuban amateur now living in Houston, proved his boxing skills are some of the best in the world when he routed Austin Trout over twelve rounds last December. The junior middleweight division is filled with new talent, but this fight will show us the king of the division.
In this classic boxer vs puncher match up the puncher, Saul Alvarez, will come out the victor. If there is one punch that will guarantee victory for him it is the left hook to the body. Alfredo Angulo laid the blueprint to defeating Lara, 19-1-2 (12), with his constant pressure and body attack. The determined Angulo dropped Lara twice before an eye injury forced him to retire in the tenth round. Alvarez, fighting out of Juanacatlán, Mexico, does not have the pure power of Angulo, but his punches are cleaner and his better defense will allow him to slip inside without taking the same punishment Angulo did.
“Canelo” wins if he pursues this game plan. If he emulates what he did against Austin Trout however, he will have much less success. Against Trout, Alvarez, 43-1-1 (31), simply loaded up his right hand and looked for one big shot, perhaps struggling with Trout’s southpaw stance. Many observers believed Trout did enough to deserve the decision that night in San Antonio. Lara, also a southpaw, has more power and speed than Trout, and is better defensively than the tricky Trout as well, so Alvarez will need to slow “The American Dream” down for the later rounds. Lara will look to land the one-two on Alvarez at range all night, but he will have to throw punches in bunches to keep his opponent off of him. If Alvarez keeps his composure, works the body, and does not let Lara's tricky defense frustrate him, he will triumph Saturday night.
In this classic boxer vs puncher match up the puncher, Saul Alvarez, will come out the victor. If there is one punch that will guarantee victory for him it is the left hook to the body. Alfredo Angulo laid the blueprint to defeating Lara, 19-1-2 (12), with his constant pressure and body attack. The determined Angulo dropped Lara twice before an eye injury forced him to retire in the tenth round. Alvarez, fighting out of Juanacatlán, Mexico, does not have the pure power of Angulo, but his punches are cleaner and his better defense will allow him to slip inside without taking the same punishment Angulo did.
“Canelo” wins if he pursues this game plan. If he emulates what he did against Austin Trout however, he will have much less success. Against Trout, Alvarez, 43-1-1 (31), simply loaded up his right hand and looked for one big shot, perhaps struggling with Trout’s southpaw stance. Many observers believed Trout did enough to deserve the decision that night in San Antonio. Lara, also a southpaw, has more power and speed than Trout, and is better defensively than the tricky Trout as well, so Alvarez will need to slow “The American Dream” down for the later rounds. Lara will look to land the one-two on Alvarez at range all night, but he will have to throw punches in bunches to keep his opponent off of him. If Alvarez keeps his composure, works the body, and does not let Lara's tricky defense frustrate him, he will triumph Saturday night.