Heading into this Saturday night's fight with Ramon Alvarez
(27-7-3)(16 KO’s) (1 NC), Erislandy Lara (27-3-1)(11 KO’s) will set out to
prove that he is still one of the top fighters in the talent rich super
welterweight division (Fox 8 p.m. ET).
For the 36-year-old former Cuban amateur champion and former WBA
champion, a victory in this fight could easily put him back in place to
challenge for one of the major championships.
It wasn’t long ago that Lara was the man viewed as the best fighter and
champion at 154-pounds prior to his loss to former champion Jarett Hurd in
April of last year. It was a loss that
some felt was controversial after what turned out to be twelve grueling and
entertaining rounds of action.
With father time not on his side, along with Hurd all but
set to have a rematch with Julian Williams (current WBA/IBF champion) in December
of this year, it seems that a victory
for Lara on Saturday means future major pay days and the chance to reclaim the
number one spot. It also helps that the
WBC portion of the title is held by Tony Harrison, who should be facing the man
he beat for that, title Jermell Charlo, in a rematch. These fighters mentioned compete under the
Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) banner, which means that making a championship
fight for Lara, if he were to be victorious, much easier.
While this fight for Lara is an important moment in his
already successful career and may dictate just where the rest of his career
goes, one boxing promoter who has dealt
with the PBC shed some light as to why so many fighters remain loyal to the PBC
and its lead advisor, the always elusive Al Haymon. “Al is a genius at getting
fighters paid on a constant basis. He is
great at recycling fighters and putting them back into competitive fights,”
stated the promoter. “Just look at what
he did for Chris Arreola. Most of the
other promoters would have felt that his career was over. That his best days were behind him. They may have even just used him as a
stepping stone for younger prospects in their stable. He (Al Haymon) allowed Arreola to earn more
money with more fights and Arreola proved that he is far from a shot fighter.”
Haymon is technically just an advisor and none of the
fighters are under promotional contract with the PBC. Over the years, many of the PBC fighters have
been offered lucrative contracts with large lump sums of money to jump ship and
join the other major promotional outfits.
However, most of the fighters remain faithful to the PBC and Haymon due
to what the promoter stated above. In
the case of Lara, due to his advanced age and being on the cusp of yet another
title shot, and despite the sense of
security in knowing that a loss doesn’t necessarily mean that his time in the
lime light is over, Lara won’t be taking
any chances against Alvarez and doesn’t want to find out what awaits his career
should he lose.
“I came (to the United States) and I achieved almost
everything that I have asked of myself,” stated Lara. “I was world champion for many years and the
most important thing is that now I feel very happy because they gave me another
chance for the world title and to be crowned again.”
One can’t really blame Lara for having the mindset that he
carries in that he is an undefeated fighter.
All three of his losses have been close decisions. They include a majority decision loss to
former two division champion Paul Williams in 2011 and a split decision loss to
the sports current biggest box office draw Saul "Canelo" Alvarez in 2014. While most felt that Alvarez did enough to
win the fight, it was a fight that saw Lara confuse the younger Alvarez at
times with his boxing skill. Aside from
Alvarez’s loss to Mayweather and two recent fights with Gennady Golovkin, his
fight with Lara was the toughest of his career.
This adds a bit of intrigue to this fight on Saturday
night. Ramon Alvarez is the older
brother of Canelo Alvarez, and is himself trying to capitalize on this opportunity
to take his own career to the next level.
For all the praise that his younger brother has received as one of the
best fighters and the sports biggest star, Ramon has yet to have a truly career defining victory of his own. “I will work to make things very clear to
Lara that I am not my brother and that this fight will not be the same,” stated
Alvarez. “This is everything for me. To make my own legacy. My own path and show I got here with nobody’s
help.”
After his fight with Hurd last year, a fight that many felt
was the fight of the year, Lara returned to the ring and fought the always
dangerous Brian Castano of Argentina. It
was yet another fight that Lara thought he won, but it ended in a draw, which again adds more meaning to this fight
with Alvarez. Despite those constant
opportunities to make money that are given to fighters that make them stay
loyal to PBC, those types of
opportunities and paydays will eventually run their course if a fighter can no
longer produce positive results.
With the added pressure of what a victory would mean for
both careers and the underlining story of a type of revenge for Lara against
another Alvarez, Saturday nights fight
between these two veterans could easily turn into an exciting battle and should
have fans tune in to this night of action.
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