By Norm Frauenheim-
Oscar De La Hoya often talks about Canelo Alvarez as though he is looking at himself, or maybe at what he had hoped for himself. In the reflection, there are huge aspirations. Maybe some illusions, too. A mirror can bend reality into some funny shapes. Tricks lurk behind the blind spots for anybody susceptible to a feint. Yet, the truth always appears, which is what De La Hoya is about to discover in a critical test of Canelo’s right to be the heir-apparent in a domain long ruled by Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.
Erislandy Lara, who has quick feet and sneaky power, is in the way and dangerous enough to make Canelo’s potential look like false advertising.
For Canelo, the stakes have never been higher than they will be Saturday night at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand in a Showtime pay-per-view bout crisscrossed by plots and subplots. Here’s just one: It’s a fight that could be critical to De La Hoya’s business, Golden Boy Promotions. His company is fighting for relevancy in the wake Richard Schaefer’s resignation as CEO and questions about whether fighters presumed to be with Golden Boy are in fact tied to Al Haymon. Lara is a Haymon fighter. Lara’s tie to Haymon might have been an interesting footnote and nothing more if not for the De La Hoya-Schaefer split. Now, however, it’s a key element that has spawned further plots and garden-variety conspiracy theories. To wit: Was Schaefer setting De La Hoya up for a fall by putting Canelo into the most dangerous fight possible?
Believe what you want about how and why Canelo agreed to face Lara in a junior-middleweight fight perilous to him and De La Hoya. It’s no secret that Canelo is Golden Boy’s most valuable commodity. His drawing power was evident in the record revenues produced in his pay-per-view loss to Mayweather in September. His one-sided loss to Mayweather was predicted and has been written off as a learning experience. Fair enough. But his Pied Piper-like ability to attract fans, especially in his native Mexico, has heightened the fight’s urgency and probably the anxiety for anybody invested in him.
Can he win? Yeah, definitely.
Can he lose? Yeah definitely.
But this isn’t just another pick ’em fight. The potential consequences make this one extraordinary.
De La Hoya’s brilliant career included at least a couple of bouts that confirmed his stardom and propelled him to the big money that he would later collect. Two come to mind.
There was Pernell Whitaker in 1997, five years after De La Hoya’s Olympic gold in Barcelona. At 23-0, De La Hoya had an unblemished record and unmarked face. But he had yet to prove whether he was more than a pretty face. Whitaker represented a critical test. He was 40-1-1 and thought to be the best defensive tactician of his generation. De La Hoya won, claiming a unanimous decision — 116-110 on two cards and 115-111 on the third. But the scoring was ripped, especially by East Coast media which argued that the bout was at least a draw. Many screamed from their ringside seats that Whitaker, of Philadelphia, had been robbed.
Then, there was Ike Quartey in 1999. Quartey, strong and skilled, was 34-0-1 and thought to be the world’s most dangerous welterweight. De La Hoya had won six more times since Whitaker. He was unbeaten, yet still unproven. There were questions about whether he could take much punishment. He could, he did, getting up from a fourth-round knockdown while flooring Quartey twice, once in the sixth and again in the 12th. But the bout was not without controversy. De La Hoya won a split decision, 116-112 and 116-113 on two cards. The third had it for Quartey, 115-114. But disagreement on the cards subsided, allowing De La Hoya to move on, up and into the biggest star of his generation.
Both fights were at Thomas & Mack in Las Vegas, a city where De La Hoya was popular enough to be called the house fighter. It’s a label that Canelo has today.
From this corner, the guess is that Canelo-Lara will resemble De La Hoya-Quartey more than De La Hoya-Whitaker. Canelo’s strength is power. Lara has enough of it to also do some damage. Knockdowns appear inevitable, perhaps decisive in a bout that could be controversial. However, Lara could rely on his quick feet and left-handed style with Whitaker-like defense, although that strategy might backfire just as it did for Whitaker 17 years ago.
From his ringside seat Saturday night, De La Hoya might remember Quartey and Whitaker. He might look at Canelo and recall two difficult victories that were so important to his own career. He might see something else, too. It could look a lot like his future.
