The talented light middleweight contender Erislandy Lara was an outstanding amateur fighter and a welterweight gold medalist at the 2005 World Amateur Championships who defected from Cuba in 2008 to seek the proverbial greener pasture as a prizefighter. In just a few years, he has amassed a solid record of 17-1-1 with 11 knockouts in 19 professional fights.
But despite being a gifted and very skilled boxer, Lara's boxing career has been on a rollercoaster ride. He remains outside of the equation when it comes to high-prized, high-stakes fights.
But Erislandy Lara has high hopes for his future and one of his aspirations is to land the potentially lucrative Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez fight.
To the fighters that he has faced, Erislandy Lara was a tough puzzle to break. To many boxing observers, Erislandy Lara remains an enigma. They lament the fact that consistency is not one of the Cuban fighter's strongest suits. In many instances, Lara seems contented to just get by with a so-so effort in a fight and then show up as the technical wizard that he is in the next one. But he can also be spectacular at times.
Let us just look back at his last three fights before his stay-active bout with Freddy Hernandez on ShoBox last Saturday night at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, CA.
Erislandy Lara got lucky to eke out a draw with Carlos Molina in a fight that he should have lost, and was unlucky to lose via majority decision in a fight that he should have won against Paul Williams after literally and figuratively punishing The Punisher for 12 rounds. (As a sidenote: The judges Don Givens, Hilton Whitaker II and Al Bennett who worked that night were eventually suspended by the New Jersey State Athletic Commission.)
After a lay-off of nine months, Lara got back on track with a first round demolition of Detroit's Ronald Hearns. It took Lara just 1 minute and 34 seconds to send the son of the legendary Motor City Cobra and recent Hall of Fame inductee Tommy 'Hitman' Hearns into the abyss of mediocrity.
In last Saturday's 10-round unanimous decision over Freddy Hernandez, Erislandy Lara proved once again why many marquee fighters fear him and promoters would not let their 'prized' fighters face him. He conducted a master class and simply outclassed the tough and durable veteran Freddy Hernandez with ease.
Erislandy Lara was very accurate and methodical with his punches, on numerous times he would land several combos punctuated by his power lefts on Fernandez, and when the Mexican fighter tried to retaliate, he found the Cuban an elusive target to hit.
Erislanday Lara gave Freddy Hernandez a lot of angles; he would dart in and out of the kill zone to Freddy Hernandez's consternation. The Mexican fighter was reduced to firing mostly blanks and insignificant shots which leads more to his frustrations.
Erislandy Lara was on a different class and was in cruise control throughout the fight. He showed a full arsenal of punches and some defensive gems against a game fighter but with a very limited firepower.
Even when Erislandy Lara was deducted a point in round seven for a headbutt (yes, there were numerous headbutts and low blows from both fighters that the referee failed to call or deliberately ignored), there is no doubt that he was way ahead in the cards.
Erislandy Lara exhibited good ring generalship; he made Freddy Hernandez miss a lot of his shots while potshotting him with great success in return. Lara knows when to engage and disengage to his advantage. Even when Freddy Hernandez continued to pursue his elusive prey, Erislandy Lara was a picture of a confident and very relaxed fighter down the stretch. Freddy Hernandez was game but ineffective and on the receiving end of Lara's counters. The wide talent and skills disparity was on display with Lara being the stronger and more accurate puncher.
If Erislandy Lara was a painter, we can safely say that he made Freddy Hernandez's face his canvas. The post fight picture of the two fighters was a study in contrast; Lara's face was unmarked while Hernandez's face looked like a bad replica of a Picasso abstract.
Thus, it could be said that Erislandy Lara cruised to another victory to pad his resume last Saturday night. Freddy Hernandez gave the fight his all, but his all was not good enough. He was simply outfought, outhustled and outgunned by a superior fighter.
The decision was unanimous with Erislandy Lara winning by a wide margin on two judges' scorecards, 99-90 and 98-91. The other judge, David Denkin though needs to see his eye doctor as soon as possible as he scored the one-sided fight with a questionable 95-94 score.
Punch Statistics showed Erislandy Lara outlanding his foe by a huge margin. Lara landed 44% of his total punches (246 of 561) to Hernandez' woeful 18% (128 of 710). The power punches were in Lara's favor as well as he landed 64% (217 of 339) of his bombs compared to an anemic 23% (115 of 493) of Hernandez.
Another night, another fight in the life of the young Cuban fighter, but by pitching a shutout against a rugged veteran, we asked ourselves whether Erislandy Lara just shot himself in the foot by eliminating himself from the Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez sweepstakes.
If Oscar de la Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions are true to their pronouncements that they will give the fans the great fights that they crave, then a showdown between Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez and Erislandy Lara is a no-brainer.
But if after this fight, Erislandy Lara returns to toil under the radar and continue to fight nondescript fighters, then we can now say that Erislandy Lara's ring exploits act as both a blessing and a curse for his boxing career. Yes, Erislandy Lara is a prisoner of his talent and skills.
Free Erislandy Lara.
*photo credit: Tom Casino/SHOWTIME
*Note: This article was previously published on Detroit Fight Sports Examiner
Showing posts with label Oscar de la Hoya. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oscar de la Hoya. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Friday, April 1, 2011
Abner Mares & Promoter Oscar de la Hoya LA Media Workout Quotes & Photos
WBC SILVER BANTAMWEIGHT CHAMPION ABNER MARES
MEDIA WORKOUT QUOTES & PHOTOS
WITH PROMOTER OSCAR DE LA HOYA
Mares Faces IBF Bantamweight World Champion
Joseph “King Kong” Agbeko on Saturday, April 23
In The Bantamweight Tournament Final: Winner Takes All,
LIVE on SHOWTIME® From Nokia Theatre L.A. Live
____________________________________________________________________________________________
LOS ANGELES (March 31, 2011) – World Boxing Council (WBC) Silver Bantamweight Champion Abner Mares participated in a media workout today at Maywood Gym in Maywood, Calif. as he gets ready to face International Boxing Federation (IBF) Bantamweight World Champion Joseph “King Kong” Agbeko in the eagerly awaited Bantamweight Tournament Final: Winner Takes All on Saturday, April 23 LIVE on SHOWTIME® (10:30 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast) from Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE in Los Angeles.
Mares (21-0-1, 13 KO’s), of Hawaiian Gardens, Calif. by way of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, will defend his WBC Silver bantamweight championship in the tournament final against Agbeko (28-2, 22 KO’s), of Accra, Ghana.
In what will be a hotly contested co-feature, former Two-Division World Champion Vic “Raging Bull” Darchinyan (35-3-1, 27 KO’s), of Sydney, Australia, by way of Vanadzok, Armenia, and former IBF Bantamweight World Champion Yonnhy “El Colombiano” Perez (20-1-1, 14 KO’s), of Santa Fe Springs, Calif., by way of Cartagena, Colombia, will clash in the tournament consolation bout.
Tickets, priced at $200, $100, $75, $50 and $25, are available online at Ticketmaster.com, and via Ticketmaster charge-by-phone at (800) 745-3000. Tickets are also available at STAPLES Center Box Office.
Mares earned a berth in the final with a bloody, come-from-behind 12-round split decision win over Darchinyan in the tournament semifinals last Dec. 11 in Tacoma, Wash. Later in the evening, Agbeko earned his spot in the final by handed Perez his first career loss via a unanimous 12-round decision.
The Bantamweight Tournament Final: Winner Takes All is promoted by Don King Productions, Gary Shaw Productions, Golden Boy Promotions and Thompson Boxing Promotions and sponsored by Corona . An exciting undercard will be announced shortly.
Here’s what Mares and Oscar de la Hoya had to say on Thursday:
ABNER MARES:
“The fight (against Darchinyan) gave me a lot of confidence and motivation. I’m fighting legitimate fighters in this tournament and I know I belong.
“It’s a great fight. Agbeko is an amazing fighter. Not many fighters lose a title and come back stronger to win it. He’s hungry and I know he doesn’t want to lose that title again, but I’m here to prove myself, to prove that I’m the best 118 pounder and win this tournament.
“I want to go out and give the fans a good fight. With Agbeko’s style and my style, the fight has to be interesting. We can’t put on a bad fight.
“I’m here to fight the best – that’s why I’m facing Agbeko and that’s why I want to fight (Nonito) Donaire after I win this thing.
“I thank Oscar for everything. He’s the one who’s been with me from the beginning.”
OSCAR DE LA HOYA:
“The Bantamweight Tournament was the best thing that could have happened to this division. SHOWTIME stepped up to the plate and did a great job putting it together. We will see very soon who is one of the best of this division. The champion of this tournament will be in line to face pound-for-pound great Nonito Donaire.
“The great thing about this fight is anyone can win it. It’s a coin toss.
“Abner is a fighter I believe in – he always give his all. He wants to be the best in his division.
“Eventually, after this tournament, we want him to keep on facing the best fighters out there. I believe he’ll go up one or two divisions, but he still has some work to do here at 118 pounds. He has the talent and speed and power to move up in weight.
“I’m really excited that Abner is the first fighter who turned professional with us and now he’s fighting for a world title. That’s exciting for us.
“We’re a young company and we have many world champions, but Abner is our first that we had from the start.
“Abner is a very dedicated and loyal fighter and we are thrilled to have him.
“With the Super Middleweight tournament SHOWTIME has created noise and attention for that division. What SHOWTIME has done is outstanding. The fans love and support these types of tournaments. They really stepped up to the plate and gave fans what they wanted.”
For information on SHOWTIME Sports Programming, including exclusive behind-the-scenes video and photo galleries, complete telecast information and more, please go the new SHOWTIME Sports website at http://www.sho.com/sports.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
The Dream Match: Pacman meets Golden Boy
Ring Magazine’s reigning pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao in an interview with ABS- CBN’s Dyan Castillejo confirmed that the megabuck fight with the Golden Boy Oscar De la Hoya is on with both sides finally agreeing to the division of spoils, ok prize money that once hindered the negotiations between two of boxing world’s biggest draw.
The scheduled December 6th fight will be De la Hoya’s farewell fight and Pacquiao’s biggest fight. The fight is pegged at a catch weight of 147 lbs. This will be Pacman's heaviest weight and De la Hoya's lightest in years.
I have some misgivings about this fight because on paper, Manny Pacquiao is in a disadvantaged position and the consensus underdog here since except for youth, De la Hoya has the edge in everything- experience, weight, height and reach. But I guess money talks in this case and so the fight with the popular and smaller Pacquiao will indeed pursue.
Frankly, I just lost my respect for Oscar as a fighter for taking this fight because for all of Pacquiao’s vaunted power and hand speed, this fight is not the fight that should even be considered to be his farewell fight. If he is man enough and wants to cement his legacy, he should fight Antonio Margarito instead.
I just hope that Manny will emerge from this fight unscathed considering that Oscar De la Hoya can really punch the lights out of him. So, I am keeping my fingers crossed that this will be a competitive fight and not a lopsided one.
Although I will be rooting for Manny to win, my head tells me to put my money on the Golden Boy. But who knows, Pacman will once again rise to the occasion and prove all the skeptics wrong.
And despite my misgivings, on fight night, I will still bet my hard-earned money on a Pacquiao victory. What the heck, I always root for the underdogs.
Good luck Manny.
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