By Eric Thomas: Undefeated former three time Cuban National amateur champion Erislandy Lara (7-0, 4 KO’s) defeated journeyman Darnell Boone (16-12-2, 6 KO’s) by a dully six round unanimous decision on Friday nights at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The final judges’ scores were 59-55, 60-54 and 60-54.
Lara, 26, fought on the card with two other former Cuban amateur stars with former Olympians Guillermo Rigondeaux and Yudel Johnson taking part in impressive performances. Lara, however, was the one that got most of the attention going into the fight due to his shining efforts in past fights.
However, against Boone on Friday night, Lara looked very average and not nearly as impressive than he had in past fights. Part of that is because Lara was put in with a much better fighter than he had in the past and he couldn’t knock him out easily like the sub par opponent that Lara had been put in with in previous fights.
Lara, a southpaw, went left hand crazy in the opening round, throwing almost entirely left hands and forgoing the use of a jab. Like in many of Lara’s past performances, Lara mostly pecked away with one punch at a time. The round was dull through much of it.
Near the end of the round, Lara tried to liven things up by bum rushing Boone and hitting him with, what else, left hands. Lara landed four straight left hands to end the round, but the punches lacked any steam and made no impression on Boone, who took them and wasn’t phased by them.
In the 2nd round, Lara finally began to throw some combinations by doubling up on his left hands. He still rarely used his right hand and I was beginning to wonder whether Lara had injured it or something because he was saving it up like it was money or something. He finally let it go around the middle of the round when Lara landed a nice right-left combination.
However, Lara only threw his right two more times in the round, spending the rest of the round using his left hand as usual. For his part, Boone was throwing few punches and spending most of the time trying to block shots and not get hit. But, when Boone did let his punches go, he looked very impressive, showing a good punch assortment, unlike the one-dimensional Lara.
Unfortunately for Boone, he didn’t throw nearly enough punches for his own good. As the round was nearing the end, Boone attacked Lara and hit him with a three punch combination. This was the best combination of the round and it was surprising that it was coming from a journeyman rather a fighter like Lara, who a lot of boxing experts have been salivating over in the past couple of months.
In rounds four through six, Lara continued to throw only one punch at a time and looking nothing like a future pro star or even a former amateur one for that matter. Lara rarely, if ever, threw any combinations and when he would throw more than one punch at a time, it was his left hand.
Having seen Lara fight on a number of occasions, I’ve noticed his dependency on his left hand, but I’d never seen him looking so limited as I did this time. In the 6th round, Lara went after Boone, attacking him with left hands and appearing to hurt him at one point. However, Lara didn’t have the power or the punch variety to finish Boone off and had to be content with winning a decision.
I can’t say I was impressed with Lara’s performance. Compared to Johnson and Rigondeaux, Lara looked much less impressive and not nearly as ready for the pro game compared to them. I don’t know who Lara was beating up on as an amateur, but as a pro he looks rather ordinary and one dimensional to me.