Pure running does not translate into pure boxing

This was a fight that was going to determine who had the better tools and who had improved the most, instead it ended up showing both fighters weakness yet again. Both are to blame for such a lackluster performance. It would be best for both to learn from each others "school" if they want to keep improving and stay at the top of the game

Lara was on his bike after the body shots. This is NOT boxing. If this is the cuban school of boxing, they should outright ban this from TV.

look at all this pure running! http://www.boxingscene.com/uploads/79872/canelo-lara%20%282%29.jpg http://www.boxingscene.com/uploads/79872/canelo-lara%20%283%29.jpg http://www.boxingscene.com/uploads/79872/canelo-lara%20%287%29.jpg http://www.boxingscene.com/uploads/79872/canelo-lara%20%2819%29.jpg yeah those pics are from the first three to four rounds of the fight where Lara was actually picking spots to sit down on his punches after that, Canelo was blasting him to the body while Lara stopped on the ropes and would just pivot out without using the angle to land a counter or an opening, something that is common in "pure boxing" lara used too much movement and not enough offense/counter punching

I think Lara boxed pretty well in the early rounds. Canelo did very little on offense the first couple rounds. I think part of it had to do with Canelo feeling out Lara, but also Lara did well scoring and then getting out of harms way. I thought he was going to dominate from then on, but Canelo ended up digging to the body and gained momentum in the mid rounds. When Lara did well, he was boxing. He was scoring then getting out of range. He would move in and out. However, the rounds he lost, instead of scoring, he was just out of range, even when Canelo would close the distance he would get out of range without throwing. That right there, he was fighting like a fighter who's trying to secure a lead in the 12th which puzzled me. Either way I had it a close fight 7-5, 6-5-1 either way or draw. I agreed with the SD. Neither fighter looked "spectacular".

Pure boxing is controlling distance, utilizing movement, picking your shots, keeping the fight on the outside and using footwork to create space. Lara did that. He fought at his pace, sat down on his punches and consistently landed hard 1-2 and sometimes 3 punch combos. You may not like his style of fighting but to discredit his boxing abilities is ridiculous. I disagree completely, Lara TRIED that but did not do that, he attempted to control the distance but it only partialy worked, He picked his shots but so did Canelo and they both landed combos. He RAN pure and simply, unlike Mayweather who would move and then pop and barely slide over and pop some more and still not get hit and he doesnt even have to run. Lara was a disgrace that night, I have seen him box better than that.

Spot on. Canelo was supposed to KO Lara yet he struggled and arguably lost. He's elite doe :dunno: And lara was supposed to take canelo to "Cuban boxing school doe" and "put him in the dirt" lmao :-0

I think the fight could have gone either way. A fight basically being a draw would go to the champion. That being said: Canelo hasn't really gotten much better since fighting Floyd. If Lara had stood his ground a little more in the fight we all would be talking about a big upset today. Canelo needs to show us he is an elite fighter not just say that he is and give us a sub par fight like last night. You are what you are. Canelo is not yet elite. Spot on. Canelo was supposed to KO Lara yet he struggled and arguably lost. He's elite doe :dunno:

There is a big difference between how Floyd fought Canelo and how Lara did, he literally ran around the ring. In the 3rd and i think 4h rounds, he did about 30 laps around the ring and threw barely any punches, it was pathetic, thats not boxing

I remember that, lol. It's reminiscent of the mentality a boxer has when touched up and clearly losing on the cards badly, and so they decide they're not getting knocked out(fuk the crowd I'm going to frustrate this mofo and go the distance)--they'll just keep riding their bike until the timer runs out. The only difference here is Lara adopted this practice at the beginning of the fight and settled for putting together single punches with little behind them. He never backed Canelo off him because their was nothing to respect, he wasn't sitting down on any of his punches. He doesn't deserve to win a round for popping an arm jab at Canelo then bolting for the opposite corner of the ring. That's bullsh1t. This was like the Trout fight 2.0 I'm not one to call "pure boxers" runners but this dude literally knocked himself down trying to run away. First couple of round Lara looked great, but once he felt Canelo's body punches you knew it bothered him and he wasn't going to risk getting caught. There's a fine line between movement/Ring generalship and blatantly running and Lara crossed it for most of the fight.

I think the fight could have gone either way. A fight basically being a draw would go to the champion. That being said: Canelo hasn't really gotten much better since fighting Floyd. If Lara had stood his ground a little more in the fight we all would be talking about a big upset today. Canelo needs to show us he is an elite fighter not just say that he is and give us a sub par fight like last night. You are what you are. Canelo is not yet elite.

Mares literally ran after Moreno at one point in the fight :lol1: I remember that, lol. It's reminiscent of the mentality a boxer has when touched up and clearly losing on the cards badly, and so they decide they're not getting knocked out(fuk the crowd I'm going to frustrate this mofo and go the distance)--they'll just keep riding their bike until the timer runs out. The only difference here is Lara adopted this practice at the beginning of the fight and settled for putting together single punches with little behind them. He never backed Canelo off him because their was nothing to respect, he wasn't sitting down on any of his punches. He doesn't deserve to win a round for popping an arm jab at Canelo then bolting for the opposite corner of the ring. That's bullsh1t. This was like the Trout fight 2.0

This ain't pure boxing, it was pure runnig I even picked Lara to dominate. He bowed nothing remotely boxing other than the first 3 rounds which I thought would happen throughout the fight. Anyone would look bad having someone move like that.

I'm going to throw this out there, does anyone else think Ronnie Shields had a part to play in making Lara feeling complacent, even before the last round he told Lara he was winning and just to go out there whereas Canelo's corner made him fight. I've seen it in previous Lara fights, instead of lighting a fire under his ass, they tell him to go easy

Dude, come on. That's the outlier. You could probably find a couple more examples if you racked your brain hard enough. Fact is, it's nearly impossible to look good against against relentless movement because the whole point of it is to throw the other person off. Lara's tactics last night were the easy option. There is nothing smart about doing laps around the ring. I mean, for God's sake, what is Canelo actually supposed to do when faced with that? Run around with the guy? That's boxing, chasing some dude down? Lara chose the easy option and people will give him an pass for doing so. Mares literally ran after Moreno at one point in the fight :lol1:

He wasn't running he was using movement because Canelo has trouble with movement and it took away his combination punching I'm a huge fan of fighters who can apply themselves from long range but that was running more than it was moving Larry. When your not throwing whilst on the move, which Lara does, it's running. Rigondeaux can be similar but entirely different in his approach, he may not always let his hands go on the move but he can move into countering angles quickly and he doesn't second guess himself in the way Lara does.

you mean the "body shots" that mostly hit lara's hips and elbows, and were borderline low blow? lara belt was up to his nipples lol and he was shoving canelos hands down, you only see what you wanna see huh?

Who doesn't have problem with movement? People act like it's this great big secret that certain fighters don't do well against movement. Fact is, no-one does well against movement. And especially not the kind of excessive movement we saw last night. That's not some masterclass in strategy - if a guy is RUNNING away from you, then guess what? You are not going to look good. No-one complained when Floyd beat Canelo because the movement was smart, he mixed it up - and at times, he out-fought Canelo. Lara RAN. I'm sorry but he did. He was terrified of getting hit and so he ran like crazy, occasionally stopping to pop 1-2s, before getting back on his bike again. I'm sorry but that's not boxing to me. That's take the old "hit and not get hit" taken to its most egregious extreme. Mares dealt with Moreno's movement pretty well.

so where are all of canelo's great highlights? Those weren't exactly great highlights but ask your boy about the uppercut that changed his life forever. Stitches = scar. #RememberTheCinnamons

Never happened Yes it did.

A lot of people seem to confuse running with defense and think that they are watching a beautiful display of boxing when all they are witnessing is pure running. It takes two people to make a fight and if one of those two people doesn't want to engage then he desserves to lose the fight. If Canelo would have started running away from Lara last night the same way that Lara ran, there would have been no fight at all. We would have just seen two guys inside the ring running in opposite directions at all times. Everyone knows that in boxing you're supposed to try to hit and not get hit. But that doesn't mean that you're suppossed to run to not get hit, and that's where a lot of "fighters" like Erislandy Lara get confused. Last night Canelo Alvarez did everything possible to make a fight out of nothing while landing what ever he could in the process. On the other hand last night Erislandy Lara ran as much as possible while doing everything possible to avoid fighting. Canelo Alvarez won fair and square and there's no question about it. Something tells me YOU either don't know much about boxing or really dislike his style ... he did all the things necessary in terms of ring generalship and control aside from throwing a couple more shots the fight was really close and could have gone either way