By Edward Chaykovsky
Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya is expecting a lot of emotion in Saturday's fight between Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (43-1-1, 31KOs) and WBA 'regular' junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara (19-1-2, 12KOs), taking place on Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The non-title fight is taking place at a catch-weight of 155-pounds. De La Hoya says Lara's insults during interviews, and the many challenges on the social networks, have made it very personal for Canelo.
"It's going to be a great fight, I don't want to predict anything. Lara has been doing a lot of trash talking that has been fueling Canelo. I see him at an entirely different level and it's exactly where he should be. He's at a level of determination where he really wants to get this guy. It's personal," De La Hoya said.
"Canelo is a young fighter who is improving at a rapid pace as every fight goes on. The fact that Lara has made this fight personal, it gives you extra motivation that you need to train harder, run faster and do everything almost perfect so that you can go into the ring and destroy your opponent."
