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Former WBC/WBA Super Welterweight Champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (43-1-1, 31 KOs) will face the upcoming superstar Erislandy Lara (19-1-2, 12 KOs) on July 12th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas in what has been one of the most demanding fights of 2014.

This week both fighters are promoting their upcoming Showtime PPV fight by making appearances in Los Angeles, San Antonio, New York City and wind things up in San Juan, Puerto Rico on Friday afternoon.

On Monday afternoon Alvarez was pleased to see the Hispanic community in Los Angeles and thanked them for the continuous support.

“I took this fight because the fans wanted it, and after I kept reading and hearing interviews with Lara about how badly he wanted this fight,” Canelo said. “He said some bad things about me on Twitter and social media. I’m a Mexican, and I know all the tricks. You can’t say the kinds of things he said. So I’m going to please the fans and myself by fighting him.”

This will be Canelo’s second non-title fight after losing to Floyd Mayweather on September 14, 2013.

“This is going to be good fight,” Canelo added. “He insulted my persona and kept on taking matters to social media. So this is about about defending my honor. It has become a fight about honor instead of a title fight.”

Canelo is not stranger to opponent tactics and has always known that name calling and bad mouthing has always been part of boxing.

“I don’t think I took what he said personally, or that he got under my skin, but he likes to talk,” Canelo said. “He can say anything that he wants [to me]. I have a lot of respect for Cuban fighters…but we’ll see who’s best when we fight [on July 12th].”

When asked if Lara earned this fight he said, “I’ve never tried this hard to get a fight, and actually get it like I did for this one. I went to extreme measures, doing things I’ve never done before. I’m a pretty laid-back guy, but I did everything I could to challenge him and make people, the fans, and the media demand that he fight me.”

Lara and Canelo have both defeated Austin Trout and Alfredo Angulo, but that’s not the reason why Lara wants to fight Canelo.

“It’s all because I want to prove that I am the best 154-pound fighter in the world,” said Lara. “I’m not sure what kind of fight this will be. It could be a war, and I could stand toe-to-toe like I did against Alfredo Angulo, or I can box. It depends how I decide to fight him in the ring.”

When Lara was asked about who he would want to fight next if he were to defeat Canelo he said, “Floyd Mayweather.”

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