(Photo credit: Showtime) By Allan Fox: If WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (29-0, 26 KO’s) is open to the idea, WBA interim junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara (19-1-2, 12 KO’s) says he’s willing to fight him. This would be arguably the toughest fight of Golovkin’s career if he and his promoters at K2 Promotions were to agree to take the fight, but I can’t see them saying yes though.
Lara fights for Golden Boy Promotions on Showtime, while Golovkin fights on HBO. It’s doubtful that Showtime would say yes to Lara fighting on HBO, and it’s also possible that HBO wouldn’t go for the idea of a Showtime fighter fighting on HBO.
How about you @gggboxing me fight you anytime! #badboyvsgoodboy
— Erislandy Lara (@Laraboxing) February 9, 2014
It would be a good fight though, and a welcome relief from all the mismatches that Golovkin has been taking part in recently against weak opposition. Lara would be the only time in many years that Golovkin fought someone with a decent chance to beat him. Three years ago, Golovkin had to battle hard to defeat Kassim Ouma by a 10th round TKO. Ouma landed a lot of shots on Golovkin, and left his face pretty badly lumped up. Lara would give Golovkin a real test if this fight could take place.
I’d like to see the networks surprise me by working things out so that fans could see the Lara-Golovkin fight, because Golovkin’s likely next opponent Andy Lee is going to be an unwatchable fight due to it being a bad mismatch. Golovkin’s last three fights against Gregorz Proksa, Gabriel Rosado, Nobuhiro Ishida, Matthew Macklin, Curtis Stevens and Osumanu Adama all have been very one-sided bouts with Golovkin easily beating his opposition and then knocking them out. With Lara, Golovkin would be facing a master boxer with the skills and the hand speed to give him fits. Lara is a southpaw from Cuba, and he’s made easy work of dominating Austin Trout and Alfredo Angulo recently. Those were great performances from Lara, and those fights cemented the fact that Lara is one of the best fighters in the 154 lb division, if not the best.