Canelo Alvarez Stuns Erislandy Lara in Split Decision Win

In a battle which he won by split decision, Canelo Alvarez was able to somehow survive Erislandy Lara's beating. 

Alvarez claimed the non-title super welterweight match at the MGM Grand Garden with Jerry Roth giving a 115-113 score for Lara while Dave Moretti (115-113) and Levi Martinez (117-111) awarded the win to Alvarez, Yahoo Sports reported.

Alvarez was able to give harder punches than his opponent while Lara moved in circles while trying to avoid the punches coming from Alvarez, the sports blog added. Lara was able to move well and throw his jabs at the right places but he was moving "too often."

"I was totally in control. It didn't seem like he was doing anything. I know one thing: I made him look bad in front of all his people," Lara told Yahoo Sports in an interview.

Lara reportedly allowed Alvarez to throw hard punches at him, causing him the game. But for promoter Oscar de la Hoya, Alvarez was the obvious winner of the bout.

"Lara was not my first option for this fight. Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez is a fighter of pride. He's a fighter who wants to fight the very, very best. I don't blame him for doing what he wants to do. Lara wasn't my first choice, as I said, and you could see why. Lara was on his bicycle literally every single round," De la Hoya told Yahoo Sports.

But Lara's confidence wasn't swayed. For him, he won the bout. 

"I 100 percent thought I won the fight. I felt I was totally in control. It didn't seem like he was doing anything. I know one thing, 100 percent I made him look bad in front of all of his people. Everyone knows I won the fight, no matter what they say," Lara told ESPN.

Meanwhile, Alvarez explained how he was able to beat Lara. "I came to fight. I didn't come to run. You don't win by running. You win by hitting. He definitely has a great jab but you don't win a fight like that by running," he was quoted by ESPN as saying.

Alvarez wanted to give the fans a good show with his fight against Lara. He added, in the ESPN report, "Lara didn't come to fight. He's a great boxer, I respect him. But he has to throw more [effective] punches."

After the fight, Alvarez now stands with a 44-1-1 record with 31 knockouts. He is currently under contract with Golden Boy Promotions.