By Eric Thomas: #1 WBA Erislandy Lara (17-1-2, 11 KO’s) puts his high ranking on the line against #3 WBA Alfredo Angulo (22-2, 18 KO’s) on June 8th at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. Lara, 30, has been waiting for well over a year to get a title shot against WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
Now, Lara is ranked at #1 by the World Boxing Association and looking to get a title shot against either Canelo or Floyd Mayweather Jr. One of those two fighters will be weeded out from the top spot by the WBA by virtue of their fight on September 14th. All Lara has to do to put himself in line for the title shot is to beat Angulo on June 8th and he’ll be ready for a shot finally.
Angulo has only fought a couple of times since losing to James Kirkland in November 2011. Angulo lost his ranking in the top 15 after missing a year of action due to immigration problems following the loss to Kirkland. Angulo has since won two fights against Raul Casarez and Jorge Silva and those wins were enough to get him pushed up to #3 by the WBA.
Those weren’t great victories in terms of opponents, but it doesn’t take much to get a high ranking at junior middleweight because the division is so weak.
More than a few boxing fans think Angulo is making a critical mistake in taking this fight with Lara because it’s the wrong kind of opponent for his style. Lara is fast, powerful and a good boxer. He’s not someone that a slow fighter like Angulo typically does well against.
Angulo was out-boxed by Kermit Cintron four years ago and then blown out by Kirkland after Angulo ran out of gas trying to go for a quick knockout in the 1st round. Lara is someone that Angulo is going to have knockout if he wants to win this fight. He’s not going to be able to win a decision against the Cuban fighter because he’s so much more skilled.
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