Erislandy Lara v Austin Trout

Some fights we accept aren't going to be stylistically fun to watch despite being "major fights" in terms of the division. One of those fights happened this Saturday as Cuban Erislandy Lara (19-2-1, 12) and American Austin Trout (26-2, 14) collided for the WBA Light Middleweight title.

When you have counter-punchers facing each other you can often expect to see the boxing equivalent to chess. Technically it's brilliant boxing but as a spectacle it's awful. Unfortunately both Lara and Trout are counter punchers, neither looks comfortable when forced to lead off, neither seem capable of making a fight and neither seem to have a plan B when their counter punching isn't working. Unfortunately that spoiled, what on paper, was an interesting contest.

It took less than a round for the crowd to decided they didn't like what they were watching and they let their emotions be known as they booed the men in the ring. This booing almost seemed to effect Trout who began to fall for the tricks Lara was setting. Lara, kept his form and continued to frustrate, move and out box Trout who became more and more reckless. Trout, after 4 rounds, was forced to concede he wouldn't win a chess game and instead chose to try and walk down Lara. Trout's attempt to walk to Lara were foiled big time by Lara's movement which left the American chasing shadows.

Trout, as one would expect, seemed to become more reckless from the fact he was missing and being tagged in returned. His excellent boxing was vanishing as Trout began to put on a masterclass and after 7 rounds it appeared that we were seeing a genuine schooling of a very good fighter.

Having established a clear lead on the cards Lara seemed to turn off a little bit. He was still using his boxing skills to take the rounds but he was certainly letting the distance between the men close a bit more. It seemed that this was merely a ploy to allow Lara to load up on his shots a bit more and in round 11 we saw the power of Lara take effect as he sent Trout down hard with a hard left hand.

Although Trout got up from knock down it seemed like he was ready to go and Lara went for him rocking him again before the bell saved him.

With Trout having seen out the storm in round 11 it appeared that Lara would jump on him immediately to begin round 12. Trout's corner knew this and made sure he could buy his man some time by "spilling" water on the canvas. This was enough to let Trout's legs recover enough to let him see out round 12 but by then the fight was already over in regards to the scorecards.

The domination by Lara, via his gameplan, of Trout had been excellent it, it was hard to see anything other than a clear decision in favour of Lara and the judges all agree with that view. All the scores varied but they all got the right man.

Erislandy Lara v Alfredo Angulo

In what was the best fight of the night Erislandy Lara (18-1-2, 12) became the WBA "interim" Light Middleweight title as he stopped Mexican Alfredo Angulo (22-3, 18).

The opening round was sensational for Lara as the Cuban showed off his excellent boxing ability and landed a huge number of massive straight lefts, several of which seemed to rock Angulo to his boots. Lara's boxing seemed to also do enough to claim a second round, though Angulo was starting to get in to range and tag the Cuban's body.

Angulo's body work seemed to start to pay off in round 3 as he claimed his first round and really started to go to work on Lara's midsection with powerful blows all thrown with bad intentions. It appeared the body shots were thrown with the intention of slowing Lara's legs down as much as anything else and keep the often elusive Cuban in the same place for more than just a few moments.

The determined body work of "El Perro" really helped the Mexican in round 4 as he dropped Lara for the first time in Lara's career.

Despite being knocked down Lara got back to his feet an actually looked much crisper the in the few proceeding rounds as he moved excellently and showed off his amazing boxing ability, making Angulo look slow and foolish. Despite moving well however Lara was expanding huge amounts of energy in an attempt to keep Angulo away from him as the Mexican stalked continually.

Angulo would drop Lara for a second time in round 9. It appeared that if a stoppage was going to be caused it would be from Angulo.

Unexpectedly in round 10 Lara landed 2 big left hands that forced Angulo to turn his back and walk away with left eye massively swollen and badly disfigured. The fact that Angulo turned his back forced the referee's hand as he declared Lara the winner, and new champion by 10th round TKO.

Whilst some maybe writing Angulo off following this loss the injury really did seem like a freak incident and shouldn't leave anyone questioning Angulo's heart. Instead those fans should be wishing Angulo a swift recovery as this could be a career threatening injury. For Lara this result certainly puts him into the mix at the world stage.