Erislandy Lara targeting Golovkin after Delvin Rodriguez fight

By Boxing News - 06/10/2015 - Comments

lara56666 By Allan Fox: WBA World junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara (20-2-2, 12 KOs) is interested in facing undefeated IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs) in the near future. Lara has a fight this Friday on Spike in Premier Boxing Champions against #12 WBA Delvin Rodriguez (28-7-4, 16 KOs) in what appear to be a showcase fight for the 32-year-old Cuban born Lara at the UIC Pavilion, in Chicago, Illinois.

For Lara to have a chance of getting a fight against Golovkin, he’ll need to defeat Rodriguez in an impressive fashion, because this isn’t supposed to be a competitive fight. It’s a voluntary defense for Lara.

Golovkin just finished fighting a guy with a similar fighting style as Lara in Willie Monroe Jr., and it wasn’t a particularly competitive fight. Golovkin cut off the ring on Monroe and forced him to trade power shots with him. It was a hopeless situation for Monroe, who quit on his feet after getting knocked down in the 6th.

About the only thing that Golovkin could get out of a fight against Lara is to prove that he can beat him easily so that he can show boxing fans the difference between him and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who struggled badly to defeat Lara by a 12 round split decision last year in July.

Lara fought a largely defensive battle and didn’t exchange enough with Canelo to have a chance of winning the fight. It was a fight that Lara could have won had he gone after Canelo and fought in an aggressive manner.

“I think people are underestimating Lara as an adversary. Golovkin against Lara can be done, and I think it’s a tremendous fight,” Lara’s manager Luis De Cubas said via deportes.univision.com. “Lara would think the best fighter I have faced is Golovkin and to be honest, I’m not sure if Golovkin would be the best fighter I have faced Lara. ‘Canelo’ Paul Williams. I’m not sure we can say the same for Golovkin.”

Golovkin is looking to get fights against the likes of Carl Froch, and the winner of the Miguel Cotto vs. Canelo fight. If he can’t get a fight against Froch next while he’s waiting for the winner of the Cotto-Canelo fight, then Golovkin might be interested in facing Lara. What Lara has working against him though in getting the fight with Golovkin was how negative he was in the Canelo fight. Lara ran around the ring too much, and it wasn’t much of a fight.

If Lara chooses to use that tactic against Golovkin, he’ll get knocked out because Golovkin will cut off the ring and take him out with a body or head shot. The only way Lara has a chance against Golovkin is if he stands his ground and tries to counter him all night long. I don’t think Lara will do that though because he doesn’t like to get hit, and he had problems taking the hard shots in his fight against Alfredo Angulo in 2013.

Lara really needs to show more offense in his fights starting with his bout on Friday against Delvin Rodriguez. If Lara wants to fight the big names like Golovkin, then he’s got to be willing to stand in the pocket like Floyd Mayweather Jr. and other exciting fighters. Lara can’t fight so defensively because it’s not a style that is popular with boxing fans.

Lara still seems to be fighting in an amateur style and hasn’t fully adjusted to the pros. At 32, Lara’s age is advanced and he’s got to change his fighting style in a hurry if he wants to win over fans and get the bigger fights. He was fortunate to get the fight against Canelo, but that kind of thing likely won’t happen again for Lara unless he makes drastic changes to the way he fights.



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