?He offended Mexican boxing. So this is very personal. This fight isn?t about a title. It?s about pride and honor??
Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, former WBC/WBA junior middleweight champion Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez (43-1-1, 31 KOs), the red-haired wunderkind from Juanacatl?n, Jalisco, Mexico, gets it on with Erislandy Lara (19-1-2, 12 KOs), aka The American Dream, from Houston by way of Guantanamo, Cuba.
There are lesser fighters Canelo might have chosen to fight, and with the exception of his last three bouts?Austin Trout and Floyd Mayweather in 2013, followed by Alfredo Angulo in March?he has feasted on them. But the 31-year-old southpaw is considerably more than a live opponent for the 23-year-old juggernaut from south of the border.
Canelo may technically be a veteran but his career is in its infancy. He?ll likely fight for another decade or more, racking up wins and earning tens of millions (hundreds of millions?) dollars in the process. He may lose now and then, but having surrendered his perfect record to wily Money Mayweather, the onus has been removed so that Canelo can simply fight, which is what he does best.
There has been more bad blood than usual going into this fight. Gullibility goes hand in hand with the need to generate pay-per-view and trash talk conforms to the casual fan?s notion of how boxers are supposed to behave.
During the pre-fight pressers, both fighters? mouths were working overtime.
?I?ve always wanted big fights,? said Lara, ?and I?ve wanted to fight Canelo for a long time. I?ve never tried this hard to get a fight. I went to extreme measures, doing things I?ve never done before. I?m a pretty laid-back guy, but I did everything I could to challenge him and make people, the fans and the media demand that he fight me.?
Mission accomplished.
?I took this fight because the fans wanted it,? said Canelo, ?and after I kept reading and hearing interviews with Lara about how badly he wanted this fight. He said some bad things about me on Twitter and social media. I?m a Mexican and I know all the tricks. You can?t say the kinds of things he said. So I?m going to please the fans and myself by fighting him.?
Fighting Lara is what Canelo will have to do, because trying to outbox the clever southpaw is a losing proposition.
?I pick the most dangerous fighters that will give the best fights,? Canelo continued, ?because at the end of the day I fight for the fans. But he offended me. He offended my person. He offended Mexican boxing. So this is very personal. This fight isn?t about a title. It?s about pride and honor. I have a lot of respect for Cuban fighters. I grew up watching fights of Jose ?Mantequilla? Napoles. There are lots of great fighters from Cuba. Lara?s a good fighter. He?s a very good, slick southpaw, a very tricky southpaw. But I?ve never had problems with southpaws, I?ve been able to adapt. And this won?t be the exception.?
In handicapping this bout, much has been made of the two men?s common opponents, Austin Trout and Alfredo Angulo.
?They have nothing to do with each other,? said Lara dismissively on a recent teleconference call. ?Basically all styles are different and I?m focused on Canelo and I don?t think it makes a difference who he fought in the past. What makes a difference is how our styles mesh. It?s a good style match-up because I know Canelo?s going to try to press forward and press for action, and that?s a style I like. I like guys that come and fight, and I pick them apart, like I?ve done to several guys coming up. These are the fights I like. I like guys who come to fight and I like to put them in the dirt, and that?s what I plan on doing.?
Canelo has heard it all before. As far as he?s concerned, it?s just another day at the office: ?It doesn?t matter what they say. They can say whatever they want. I?m not going to lose sleep over that. I?m not going to get into his games. Lara and his camp have their strategy, and they?re working their game plan. But I?m comfortable with mine. Every fight is different. You prepare for every opponent differently. And I?m very confident that once we?re in the ring all the other stuff goes out the window.?
A sensitive boxing writer, reportedly as rare as the Cuban Coney, asked Lara if he owed Canelo a debt of gratitude for accepting the fight.
Lara reacted as if that was the craziest thing he had ever heard.
?Absolutely not,? he insisted. ?I don?t owe him anything other than left hands. I forced this fight. It wasn?t because he wanted to take this fight. We?ve been after this fight for two years and I?ve been putting pressure on social media or interviews and jumping on stage?that?s what pressured him to take this fight. I know he didn?t want this fight, and on July 12th you?re going to see the reason why he didn?t want this fight.?
Canelo Alvarez vs. Erislandy Lara will be broadcast live in Showtime pay-per-view on Saturday, July 12, starting at 9:00 PM ET/6:00 PM PT.
