Erislandy Lara: "Canelo Alvarez is an insecure fighter who knows he's going to lose..."

To promote the upcoming July 12th PPV event against Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, which has been accurately dubbed "Honor and Glory", current WBA Junior Middleweight Champion Erislandy Lara hosted a media workout at the Long Life Fighter Gym in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Wednesday June 25th, and had much to say about his opponent to the press in attendance. "Originally I thought he would never take the fight because I confronted him in person after his fight with Alfredo Angulo at the MGM on March 8th, and he said this is not how you make fights," candidly observed the 31 year old Cuban exile. "Then after the fans saw that he was ducking me on Twitter, he had no choice but to be a man and take the challenge."

It's a match-up that even Canelo's handlers didn't want for their star fighter for the obvious reasons.

Although advisor Don "War a Week" Chargin and promoter Oscar De La Hoya has publicly admitted that they don't like the style pairing for their Junior Middleweight attraction, Canelo elected to voluntarily pursue a fight with the avoided Cuban technician because of national and personal pride.

Erislandy believes that Canelo's pride will ultimately be his undoing on July 12th.

"This fight means everything to me. For me to demonstrate to the world that I'm not just better than him, but that I'm 150% better than he is, means everything to me. Like I've stated many times before, I'm going to take him to Cuban school on July 12th."

While most observers view the match-up as an even money fight, Canelo insists that Erislandy has allowed his mouth to write a check that he won't be able to cash in the Las Vegas ring in just two short weeks.

The Cuban sharp shooter finds the sentiment to be ridiculous.

"He's talking nonsense," stated Erislandy Lara. "He knows I'm not scared of anyone. So he's trying to pump himself up into believing that I'm scared of him. The fact is that he's a very insecure fighter who knows he's going to lose. For him to say these ridiculous things is a bad sign for him. He's lost and confused."

Although many reporters have proposed a potential showdown with Floyd Mayweather Jr. should the slick southpaw be victorious on July 12th, Lara's attention remains solely on the task at hand.

"Right now my focus is on Canelo," insists the Ronnie Shields trained fighter. "But once I beat him then I'll be looking at other options. For sure I want Floyd Mayweather after this fight. He's considered the best fighter in the world and I want to be the first one to dethrone him."

When the fight was first announced several months ago, the 23 year old Mexican fighter stated via Twitter that he wasn't interested in competing for Erislandy's WBA title because he didn't recognize Lara as a legitimate champion at 154 pounds.

Erislandy claims that once again Alvarez is presenting lies to the fight public.

"Canelo can't make the weight so he refused to fight for the title," states the avoided WBA champion. "It's very disrespectful and my motivation to beat him has increased because of it."

"I can't wait to give him a beating on July 12th."

(Lara media workout images)