ERISLANDY LARA KNOCKS OUT RAMON ALVAREZ

ERISLANDY LARA KNOCKS OUT RAMON ALVAREZ

Erislandy “The American Dream” Lara knocked out Ramon “El Inocente” Alvarez in the second round (2:03) to capture the WBA Super Welterweight title Saturday night from The Armory in Minneapolis.

“Having this belt back on my shoulder feels great,” said Lara. “It means the world to be champion again. I felt like in my past fights I didn’t lose, and that stings a bit, but to come back and win the title feels great. I’m back.”

Lara applied pressure early and in the second round he landed a flurry of punches that sent Alvarez halfway through the ropes, causing the referee to rule it a knockdown. Once Lara had Alvarez hurt, he didn’t hesitate to finish the bout.

“Once I had him against the ropes, I knew I had it won and I didn’t want to give him another power punch to hurt him,” continued Lara. “We expected him to be a little more durable. I thought it was a good stoppage. I hurt him with a lot of shots before I put him down the first time. I hit him real flush with one and I would have gone in for the kill. It was a great job by the referee.”

Alvarez didn’t disagree with the timing of the stoppage saying, “I respect the referee’s decision. I’m going to keep working. It is what it is. I fell down, but I will get up again.”

Lara went on to say, “I’ll fight anyone in the division. I do want to fight the best boxers out there in the division, or go up or down a division to fight Errol Spence Jr. or rematch Canelo Alvarez.”

The co-main event featured a very competitive super welterweight clash as Sebastían “The Towering Inferno” Fundora and Jamontay “The Quiet Assassin” Clark fought to a split draw (95-95, 98-92 for Fundora, 96-94 for Clark).

“I thought I was the one doing all the work,” said Fundora. “I felt like I got more jabs and punches on him.”

Facing Clark was the first time Fundora had gone 10 rounds and he believes that he gained something valuable from the experience.

“I learned about fighting a taller boxer,” added Fundora. “I was trying to cut the corners off on him. I expected him to move a lot, but not that much in the fight. There was a height difference from other fighters I’ve fought. But if we run it back again, it’ll be different. I felt like I figured it out a little later in the fight.”

In the sixth round, Fundora appeared to have Clark in trouble as Clark clinched Fundora and both fighters fell awkwardly to the canvas.

“In the sixth, I caught him with an overhand left,” said Fundora. “He was ready to fall, but he fell on me.

“I thought we got it, but it wasn’t what the judges saw,” concluded Fundora. “I’d be happy with a rematch. I’ll run it back. We can do it tomorrow. I’ll hit him harder.”

Clark also believed he did enough to get the victory saying, “I felt like I pushed enough to get the win. The judges saw it another way. If Fundora wants to run it back again, we can run it back again. The sooner the better for me.

“The size was a little difficult at first, but we worked through it,” continued Clark. “It wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. I’m going right back to the lab and back to work.”