by David P. Greisman
Canelo Alvarez’s third-round knockout of James Kirkland this past Saturday was far more decisive and far more entertaining than his previous outing, a July 2014 split decision over Erislandy Lara.
That pay-per-view was Alvarez’s last bout with Showtime. He went on to sign a deal with HBO, which aired Alvarez-Kirkland. Afterward, members of the media asked Alvarez about the idea of a Lara rematch.
“Who wants to see that marathon again?” said Alvarez, according to translation from Eric Gomez, a Golden Boy Promotions vice president, recalling Lara’s emphasis on movement during their bout last year. “The fans want to see good fights.”
It’s difficult to see such a fight happening anyway, given that Alvarez is with Golden Boy and HBO, while Lara is an Al Haymon client. Golden Boy already didn’t have a working relationship with Haymon after the powerful adviser took his clients from the promoter and into his Premium Boxing Champions venture. Then came Golden Boy’s recent lawsuit against Haymon alleging unfair business practices, making any Golden Boy/Haymon pairings unlikely, barring a bout being made via sanctioning body purse bid.
Lara rebounded from the Alvarez loss by outpointing Ishe Smith this past December. He is scheduled to face Delvin Rodriguez on June 12.
Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com
