By Jeff Aranow: Former WBA 154lb champion Yuri Foreman (34-2, 10 KOs) has never been known as a puncher during his career, but he says he’s going to show off his power against WBA Super World junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara (23-2-2, 13 KOs) in their fight on Premier Boxing Champions on Spike this Friday night at the Hialeah Park Racing and Casino in Miami, Florida.
Foreman has knocked out 2 out of his last 3 opponents in his comeback, but the quality of his opposition has been less than world class.
Foreman is the one that will likely be knocked out in this fight. It’s been years since Foreman fought a good opponent in 2011 in losing to Pawel Wolak. If the Polish fighter was still fighting in this era, he would have a lot of problems against fighters like the Charlo brothers, Demetrius Andrade, Lara, and Julius Williams. Foreman’s situation is even worse, because he had less to work with than Wolak, who could punch a little if you stood in front of him and traded.
For Lara, this will be his fifth defense of his WBA strap. He says he wants to move up to middleweight soon to face Gennady Golovkin. The boxing fans aren’t holding their breath waiting for that to happen. Lara could have moved up already if he wanted to and challenger Golovkin, but he’s stayed at 154 instead.
The WBA’s decision to rank Foreman at No.9 with their organization is a curious one. Foreman hasn’t beaten good opposition to earn that ranking, and he looks out of place there given the opposition he’s faced recently. Ideally, Foreman should have beaten at least one contender in the division to get a title shot. For him to be getting a crack at Lara’s WBA title off the wins he’s had recently, it makes Lara look like he’s cherry picking opponents.
Foreman would be smart to try and knock Lara out. If he doesn’t get a knockout in this fight, then Foreman is going to be out-boxed by Lara and made to look bad. Foreman was likely chosen for this fight because he’s not a big puncher, he’s not a threat to Lara, and because he’s known by hardcore boxing fans from many years ago. The ratings for the Lara-Foreman fight will likely be be poor for Spike.
The match-making that’s being done for Lara since he picked up the WBA title involves him being matched against older fighters without the power or the boxing skills to trouble him. Foreman is no exception to that rule.
Lara is taking what many boxing fans feel is an easy fight by facing the 36-year-old Foreman. It’s now becoming normal for Lara to fight weaker opponents. He just does not seem to be getting matched against the best, but with him being a champion, he gets nice little paydays each time he fights. It’s no wonder that Lara is not in a rush to move up to middleweight. He can get paydays by staying at 154 and defending against the likes of Foreman, Delvin Rodriguez and Jan Zaveck.
“We are going to show skills and heart and power on Friday night,” said Foreman. “I came here to win and I feel very positive about this. Erislandy Lara is a great fighter, but me being from the Soviet Union, I’m very familiar with Cuban boxing and have quite a bit of experience with their style, so I’m looking forward to stepping in and showcasing my talents and skills.”
It would be good if Lara carries Foreman for a while to make it interesting for the fans, because this is going to be a mismatch unless Foreman has improved from the light hitting fighter he was during the prime of his career eight years ago. That’s roughly the last time Foreman was a successful fighter. He was beaten by Miguel Cotto in 2010, and Pawel Wolak in 2011.
Foreman’s career has been fading since 2011. He’s fought rarely and only against weaker opposition. On Friday night, Foreman steps it up for an arguably underserved title shot. This fight is disappointing and sad at the same time, because Lara isn’t pushing himself by facing the best.
It almost looks like he’s milking his WBA title, trying to squeeze out his time as the champion for as long as possible by facing the most beatable fighters in the World Boxing Association. At this point, it would be a real shock if Lara took on a good opponent at 154. He did beat Vanes Martirosyan by a 12 round decision last year in May, but that’s a fighter that has failed to live up to expectations. It was thought many years ago that Martirosyan would win a world title, but it’s failed to happen. Martirosyan been beaten in 3 out of his last 6 fights, and it’s pretty clear that he’s little more than a gatekeeper at this point with nowhere to go. Lara isn’t fighting the Charlo brothers, Demetrius Andrade, Julian Williams or Erickson Lubin. Can Lara beat those guys? We don’t know, because he’s not fighting them. He’s fighting older guys like Foreman, Zaveck, Ishe Smith and Delvin Rodriguez.
The co-feature bout is also appears to be a bad mismatch between former WBC super middleweight champion Anthony Dirrell (29-1-1, 23 KOs) and Norbert Nemesapati (24-4, 17 KOs). This fight has the makings of a quick knockout for Dirrell. Nemesapati doesn’t have the same pedigree as Dirrell.
This isn’t one of the better cards on Spike. It’s too bad that Dirrell and Lara couldn’t fight each other, and Nemesapati and Foreman facing each other. I think the card would be a lot more interesting to thje boxing fans. Dirrell has the punching power and size to give Lara a lot of trouble. Yeah, Lara would be fighting a guy two divisions above him, but he’s basically a middleweight anyway. Lara rehydrates to the low 170s for his fights, which puts him at the same weight ad middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin. You can guess why Lara chooses to stay at 154 rather than moving up to middleweight to fight guys his own size.