How does this one go? Would Floyd's defence frustrate Lara. Or would Lara find away around his tight defence and swarm him with fast jabs. Would Floyd's experience be the key? Or does Lara's style be Floyd's ultimate undoing? I guess this has probably been done before. But I'd like to read people's opinions on this one.
One of two toughest fights for Floyd stylistically, the other being Sexy Sergio. Whenever I watch Erizlandy fight he reminds me of a less athletic and talented Zab Judah with a bigger heart. I think this fight would look similar to Floyd-Zab with some differences. Floyd has a smoother time in the earlier rounds since he already is already knowledgeable about this kind of style from the Zab Judah fight, but Erizlandy will make Floyd work harder each round than Zab did. I'd argue that being comfortable and used to fighting a low punch output battle is actually beneficial against Floyd Mayweather. Cotto(e) averaged 48 punches per round against Foreman and Margarito, so he wasn't taken out of his element when restricted to only 42 punches a round against Floyd. Zab averaged only 30 punches a round against Floyd between the 1st and 2nd round, his best rounds. Floyd takes away punching like the IRS takes your money. Guys who are dependent on a high volume like emmanuel and Amir get drowned to their deaths in uncharted waters. roaches can't ride the rapids.
I think he's the only current boxer right now who can actually outbox Floyd. I would say the only thing that he isn't as good as Floyd is at is fighting in the pocket. Other than that, he's arguably just as good of a boxer as Floyd when it comes to counter-punching and boxing on the outside. He's like the southpaw version of Floyd, he's not as accurate, but he's more heavy-handed.
Lara is too unproven and with a low punch output Floyd would see the punches coming easy and cruise to a comfortable decision, no shame in losing to the p4p 1
Lara has the boxing IQ and fundamentals to give Floyd the toughest fight of his career. On paper, most people would say Cotto is a better boxer than Lara, but i think he would beat Cotto. Manny is a dynamic explosive boxer, but he has way too many technical flaws. Style makes fight, Lara would be able to compete with Floyd in whichever way Floyd would choose to fight him. I think Floyd would make a big mistake if he'd choose to walking down a crafty and smart boxer like, Lara.