Erislandy Lara challenges Gennady Golovkin

By Jeff Sorby - 02/09/2014 - Comments

If WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (29-0, 26 KO’s) is still looking for an opponent for his his next fight on April 26th then he might want to consider facing junior middleweight Erislandy Lara (19-1-2, 12 KO’s), because the Cuban fighter is very interested in facing him judging by his above challenge. Golovkin still hasn’t found an opponent for his April fight at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Former IBF middleweight champion Daniel Geale said he can’t take it because the fight date conflicts with another program that will be taking place on the same night. James Kirkland is out. According to ESPN, he turned the fight down. The only option available right now Andy Lee, and that’s not much of an improvement from Golovkin’s last two fights against Osumanu Adama and Curtis Stevens. In fact, you can say that Lee is a backwards step from the Stevens fight, because Stevens would likely knock Lee out in 3 of 4 rounds.

Lara would be the perfect opponent for Golovkin, because he’s got the Floyd Mayweather Jr. type of speed and fighting style, and fans would get a chance to see what Golovkin could do against that style. Lara’s career is going really well right now with him having beaten Austin Trout and Alfredo Angulo in his last two fights. Angulo had Lara in trouble with his body punching in their fight last June, but Lara was able to stop Angulo after hitting him on his puffed up right eye in the 10th round.

Golovkin has the kind of power that would potentially neutralize Lara’s hand speed and boxing ability. He would have to chase Lara around the ring, because the southpaw tends to move constantly, but he would catch up to Lara enough to test his chin and his ability to take body shots from a full middleweight.

I much prefer Golovkin to fight Lara than I do in watching him destroy Andy Lee. That fight is a mismatch, and hardly worth it for HBO to televise it. But a Golovkin vs. Lara fight would be interesting for as long as it lasts, and it would be like watching Julian Jackson vs. Terry Norris. I think it would be interesting until the bitter end.