Canelo Álvarez vs. Erislandy Lara
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date | 12 July 2014 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | MGM Grand Garden Arena, Paradise, Nevada, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Álvarez defeats Lara by split decision | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Canelo Álvarez vs. Erislandy Lara, billed as Honor & Glory, was a professional boxing match contested on 12 July 2014.[1]
In April 2014 WBA (Regular) titleholder Erislandy Lara agreed to face former unified light middleweight champion Canelo Álvarez in a bout to be televised on Showtime pay-per-view.[2][3]
Lara's WBA Regular title was not on the line, as the fight took place at a 155-pound catchweight and both fighters weighed in at precisely 155 lbs. Álvarez rehydrated to 171 lbs while Lara came into the ring at 166 lbs.
The fight
Lara came out in dominant fashion, utilizing a stick-and-move style and capturing the early rounds. Although Álvarez struggled with Lara's one-two combinations, Lara's punches weren't thrown with sufficient power or frequency to dissuade him from consistently pressing the fight against a retreating Lara, and he was able to hammer away to Lara's body when he had him on the ropes. Lara's lead hand played a huge role in his one-two combination's effectiveness, but his output dropped as the fight progressed and he became increasingly tentative. Álvarez was able to cut Lara with a lead left uppercut in the seventh round.[4]
After a very close and competitive fight, it went to the judges, Jerry Roth scored it 115–113 for Lara, Dave Moretti had 115–113 for Álvarez and Levi Martinez had it 117–111 for Álvarez giving him a split decision victory. Lara's clean punching, defense and movement were weighed against Álvarez's effective aggressiveness and power punching.[5][6]
The final scorecard was controversial as many observers considered it far too wide.[7][8]
Aftermath
Although the decision remains controversial, any talk of a rematch in the future was dismissed by Oscar De La Hoya who went on to say, "No one wants a rematch."[9][10]
