I re-watched lara/canelo, I'm wondering if what people are saying about Canelo not being able to fight guys that are his weight or heavier is true. Canelo clearly outweighed Lara, and Lara was landing clean headshots at will but they didnt really affect Canelo. Canelo's gameplan was basically take headshots walk forward and just throw massive body shots whether they landed on his hips, elbows, or clean. I don't know how anyone could give 7 rounds to Canelo in that fight. Canelo clearly beat Cotto on the other hand, but Cotto is a tiny JMW, and really past his prime. Just because he was easily beating guys at 160 one of the weakest divisions in boxing does not mean he was back in prime form.
Lara did absolute sh!t that entire fight for all the talk about what Canelo didn't do Lara did a great deal less. I don't understand why people act like Lara put on some boxing clinic I personally didn't see him winning anymore than 4/5 rds in a close snoozer. It was also like a 3 lbs difference fight night so why continue this myth that he's vastly bigger than his opponents?
Yeah, he was pretty much on his bicycle the whole time not doing much. Although I feel Canelo was the same and didn't exactly win in the most convincing way...
Canelo won more rounds because he was getting inside and landing quality punches on Lara. Lara was just jabbing jabbing jabbing and throwing occasional basic right hands that Canelo was evading. Canelo has something called upper body movement. Canelo has something called head movement which makes him hard to hit clean. Canelo can slip a punch and counter you with powerful punches. Most of the punches Lara was throwing on Canelo werent landing clean. Lara was too scared to step into the pocket and throw significant punches because he was worried about being countered and hurt. Thats why Canelo is so tough, because one punch from Canelo can knock you out so opponents like Lara was very very tentative to load up and land a punch that is actually going to hurt Canelo. Laras punches were missing, grazing or glancing punches due to Canelos superior defensive skill while Canelo was able to get in there from time to time and land hard body shots and the occasional crowd pleasing combinations. Canelo was in there doing the hard work to make it an entertaining fight (slipping punches, landing hard body punches, and other flashy punches) while Lara was content to just throw repetitive pawing jabs all night with the occasional right hand that Canelo saw coming and was able to slip all night. Lara didnt use any upper body movement like Canelo did. Lara just stood upright with his back arched while moving laterally, which is a basic, predictable boxer puncher style. Lara didnt do anything to really surprise Canelo, he just did the same thing round after round and it wasnt bothering Canelo. Even the jabs that landed on Canelo, Canelo just walked right through them and found openings to land the more impressive punches in the fight. At least Floyd when he fought Canelo used upper body movement, slipped some of Canelos punches, and landed some quality punches of his own. Lara wasnt doing that stuff so its hard to give Lara rounds when Canelo was landing the better more quality punches round after round. Laras a good boxer, but he is not as dynamic in there as Canelo. He didnt do what it took to win the close rounds, by landing those 1 or 2 big punches on Canelo in a close round that caused the judges to score the round for Lara. As far as Cotto, Cotto really hasnt been prime probably since the Yuri Foreman fight, and even that was a stretch. That was the last time I really remember seeing the eye of the tiger cerebral seek and destroy" Cotto that regard as Prime Cotto. By the time Cotto fought Floyd he was past prime, by the time he fought Canelo he was even farther past prime. And at no point during the Canelo fight did I see a Cotto that was really in there trying to win the fight. It seemed like Cotto was in there to pass the torch to Canelo, so he wouldnt have to fight GG or have to deal with the WBC any longer. Amir Khan was a much tougher opponent for Canelo than Cotto, as Khan really possessed the ability to win rounds vs Canelo. Canelo showed Cotto a lot of respect, and since Cotto wasnt trying to land quality punches and really win rounds, Canelo had no reason to attempt to KO or hurt Cotto. Khan on the other hand came in there trying to do damage on Canelo, and landed quality punches and was elusive early on with good overall speed. By Khan winning those early rounds, that forced Canelo to kick it up a notch and get into a different mindset that he had against Cotto, to time Khan and land a shot that came when Khan started to fatigue in the middle rounds. A lot of people are taking shots on Canelo, saying all this stuff about him that has no factual basis. he cant fight guys that are at his weight or heavier? He fought guys that were at his weight (154) or heavier (Cotto, Khan, Kirkland, etc). We know Cotto and Khan were blown up welterweights, but they weighed in near or in Khans case above the JMW limit so thats what their weight was. I can understand wanting to see Canelo fight bigger guys moving forward, either at MW or at least legit established JMWs. If he fought Liam Smith, for example, then we could see him fight a guy that is more his size than a past prime Cotto for example, a guy (Smith) who is established at that weight class. But when I look at Amir Khan, hes may have been a blown up welterweight, but hes a big guy. I mean he looked like a legit JMW in there. I think this criticism all stems from the fact that Canelo is just really talented, really strong and really powerful and hes just too powerful for the top contenders at JMW, which is a more stacked division than MW. People want Canelo to fight GG or bigger MWs because Canelo will be favored vs pretty much any blown up welterweight or JMW out there. Because hes got so much strength and punching power, so fans want him to fight bigger guys than hes ever fought before. But in reality, he should be fighting guys ranked at JMW, like a Liam Smith, or pretty much anyone else ranked at JMW besides Cotto or guys that he already beat.
I thought Lara won 7-5 but I agree with acie, he wasn't doing much, I've not got much problem with anyone picking Canelo as the winner in that fight.
Alvarez KO'S Lara in a rematch... IMO. That said tho... imagine Lara trying to get a fair shake on the cards this time... lol IF he wasn't worth a close decision back then he definitely ain't worth one now.
how exactly will Canelo do that? He hasn't shown any indication that he will do anything different vs Lara
