Alfredo Angulo seems to be the go-to fighter when comparing and contrasting Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Erislandy Lara, who will meet at a catchweight of 155lbs on July 12th. It is most likely due to the fact that Lara had such a compelling bout with Angulo, while Canelo beat Angulo to a pulp when they met back in March of this year. Some fans believe there is a correlation between how each fighter performed in the ring with Angulo and how the fight will pan out between each other. I do not believe in that theory.
In fact, I tend to disregard that kind of rational all together. I do not like comparing performances between fighters whose resumes contain similar opponents. It rarely factors in and it is much more constructive to compare a variety of performances within the scope of each fighters’ last few outings.
However, if I were to buy into that kind of speculative rationality I would argue that the common denominator that best factors into Canelo-Lara is Austin Trout, mostly because I feel like both Canelo and Lara will have to implement themselves on fight night in a manner similar to the Trout fight.
If Lara wants to win he has to make the fight look the way he did when he defeated Trout by unanimous decision and Canelo must be on his A-game like he was when he defeated Trout in April of 2013.
Austin Trout was a guest on Thaboxinvoice.com’s radio show last week and he had some insight on the upcoming bout between Canelo and Lara.
“Canelo was the stronger fighter, but Lara pinpoints his shots a lot better, he puts them in the right place and the ones you don’t see are the ones that get you. Lara’s more accurate. If they don’t have open scoring I think [Lara] is going to outbox him all the way through 12. Lara is not a busy fighter, but he does what he needs to do,” Trout said.
Trout confirmed what many have dictated since the Canelo-Lara fight was announced. Canelo is the bigger puncher, but Lara is the better boxer.
It is clear that Trout predicts Lara to the win come July 12th. But he admits that it is a competitive fight.
What did surprise me was his assessment of who he’d rather rematch at this point, although it was somewhat contingent on whether or not Lara wins. He believes Lara is more valuable because he has the title and he admitted that he misses the title.
“Yes, win, lose, or draw I got to get back to both of them. But Lara’s got the belt so he’s worth more than Canelo in my opinion, even though Canelo is the draw I think Lara is going to do his thing and be worth more than Canelo after the fight,” Trout said.
Trout finished up on the topic of Canelo-Lara by giving us a little more insight on what he thinks we can expect come fight night based on his personal experience.
“Lara is a smarter overall fighter and he can bang if he has to. I think the experience [Lara’s] got and the ring generalship, I’m not knocking Canelo, he surprised me before and he’s a damn good fighter, it’s just harder to figure out Lara. As soon as I thought I had a little beat on [Lara] he switched it up and he never had a rhythm I could catch.”
