Canelo Alvarez's fight with Erislandy Lara is drawing closer, and the Mexican is admitting that Lara's frequent taunts and banter are what really drove him to set the upcoming bout. That, and the matter of it being the fight his fans all wanted to see.
"Normally I've always said you don't make fights by talking, but this fight he was able to do it. He talked so bad about me in social media, and he did what he had to do to get the fight. It's what the fans want and that's what I want to do. Give them what they want," Alvarez said in an interview with James Smith.
Lara refers to Alvarez as "Canela" on Twitter
When Smith asked Alvarez whether losing as badly as he did to Floyd Mayweather Jr. last year, Canelo didn't seem to think the loss particularly improved him. "The thing with Floyd is his style. Styles make fights and his style didn't allow me to get my style off. I think that's more what happened with the Floyd fight, styles didn't match."
The problem there is that Lara is similarly defensive in style, with a bit less raw quickness but more power. That's why Lara made the following prediction to Smith. The Cuban said fans will see "the best Erislandy Lara. We're going to do all we can do get ready and we're going to take him to school."
Lara says Canelo fought a diminished Alfredo Angulo
Lara is confident that he is up to the challenge of taking Canelo down no matter what improvements he brings to the ring. "It all depends on situation," Lara said of needing to keep the bout in the center of the ring.
"I'll box or I'll brawl. I showed I can do that in other fights and it all depends on what situation presents itself."
Like Mayweather, Lara's style figures to present a pretty big problem for Canelo to solve. He appears ready for the challenge though, since he sees his quest to be the best as going through fighters like Lara.
"Of course, of course I'm conscious of that. To be the best you've got to fight the best. I've always said that and that's one of my goals to be the best. So you've got to fight the best, there's no other way."
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