Canelo Alvarez took on one of the most difficult challenges possible in the junior middleweight division when he faced off with Erislandy Lara and walked away with a somewhat controversial split decision. Alvarez didn't resemble the machine that destroyed Alfredo Angulo in March, but his body punching and aggression were enough to carry the day.
"I came to fight. I didn't come to run. You don't win by running. You win by hitting," Alvarez said after the fight through a translator. "He definitely has a great jab but you don't win a fight like that by running."
Lara clearly tried to win the fight via ring generalship; he was constantly sticking and moving as Alvarez failed repeatedly to cut him off. "I 100 percent thought I won the fight," Lara said, also through a translator. "I felt I was totally in control. It didn't seem like he was doing anything. I know one thing, 100 percent I made him look bad in front of all of his people. Everyone knows I won the fight, no matter what they say."
Lara's trainer Ronnie Shields was more blunt-"That was b******t, they robbed us."
Whether or not Lara was robbed, he's unlikely to get another shot against Canelo for quite some time. "I'll give him the rematch," Alvarez said, "when he learns how to fight." Boxing fans are now going to look at newly crowned middleweight champion Miguel Cotto as the next opponent, but Canelo's manager Chepo Reynoso thinks that's best suited for next year.
"On Sunday we met with Oscar [De La Hoya] to discuss the future of Canelo. A fight with Cotto is a natural, but we probably should wait until May 2015," Reynoso said. It's more likely that Canelo will face James Kirkland in his next bout.
"Kirkland is a great opponent. Canelo has always asked to fight the best and I think it would be a good fight for recognition, before climbing into the ring with Cotto, probably in May. It seems that's how things are being planned," Reynoso said.
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