Boxing
Erislandy Lara punishes overweight Ramon Alvarez to win WBA junior middleweight title, calls out Canelo, Spence
Ramon Alvarez hurt himself before the fight, arriving at Friday’s weigh-in an hour late and tipping the scale 4.6 pounds overweight at 158.6 pounds. That dashed his hopes of winning the WBA "regular" junior middleweight title.
Erislandy Lara then handed out the rest of the punishment in the ring Saturday night at the Minneapolis Armory in Minneapolis and live on "PBC Fight Night" on Fox. The consummate boxer abandoned his polished technical style and crushed Alvarez via second-round TKO to win the belt, starting a new championship reign at the division he ruled for years.
The beginning of the end came with Lara catching Alvarez with quick back-to-back left hands, followed by a right and a pulverizing left that nearly sent the Mexican fighter through the ropes. After the referee registered a standing-eight count, Lara went in for the finish and got just that with a barrage of unanswered punches — mostly lefts — to bring about the stoppage.
Alvarez clearly wasn't in the best mental state after Friday's weigh-in and it showed in the ring Saturday against a veteran who picked him apart. Not only did Lara once again become a junior middleweight world champion, but he also exorcised some demons, considering Alvarez is the older brother of Saul "Canelo" Alvarez; Lara believes he defeated Canelo in a July 2014 split decision that instead went to Alvarez.
After getting the dominant win, the 36-year-old Lara (26-3-3, 15 KOs) said, "I'll fight anybody in the division," but he added that he wants the best fighters in boxing, period, specifically mentioning "Errol Spence Jr. or Canelo Alvarez."
Co-main event: Sebastian Fundora, Jamontay Clark fight to split draw (98-92 Fundora, 96-94 Clark, 95-95); junior middleweights
Fundora and Clark asserted their jabs early and kept relying on the punch as their weapon of choice in what turned out to be a rough-and-tumble bout.
Although Clark seemed to pack slightly more pop with his punches, especially those right and left hooks he wrapped around Fundora’s wiry 6-7 frame, judges saw it split down the middle, resulting in the draw. Both boxers expressed their desire to run it back for what should be an equally entertaining rematch.
Frank Sanchez makes Victor Bisbal quit on his stool after savage beating; heavyweights
Sanchez pummeled Bisbal out of his trunks (literally), to the point where the latter had enough. Bisbal's corner stopped the fight after the fourth round, improving Sanchez's record to 13-0 with 11 KOs.
