by James Slater: Former amateur standout Erislandy Lara of Cuba (now living in Miami, USA having defected) improved to 13-0(8) last night on ESPN, as he easily despatched Willie Lee of Gulfport, Mississippi inside a round. The 154-pound contender (Lara can no longer be referred to as a prospect any monger, seeing as he is now quite high up in the world rankings) , a southpaw like 30-year-old Lee, scored a classy knockdown with just over a minute gone in the opening round and then got the finish.
Basting away at Lee, now 17-7(11) with both hands as the three-years older man was stuck on the ropes, Lara got the stoppage at one minute and 48-seconds of the very first round. In truth, last night’s win told us very little about the unbeaten 27-year-old, and he has been matched much tougher in the past (wins over Grady Brewer and Danny Perez), but the TKO certainly impressed commentator Teddy Atlas. After the short fight was over with, Atlas spoke of how Lara, in his opinion, is ready for the lower half of Ring magazine’s top-ten light-middleweights.
Atlas, as experienced and as knowledgeable about the fight game as anyone you could wish to find, went even further – stating how he believes Lara is ready for a none other than Miguel Cotto, the current WBA champ at 154-pounds. Referring to the Puerto Rican’s vast number of hard fights and the subsequent miles the 29-year-old has on the clock, Atlas said he’d be very interested in seeing Lara take on the former welterweight champion.
Is Atlas guilty of wanting to rush Lara, or is the man who had so many amateur fights indeed ready for the likes of Cotto? Now ranked at #11 by the IBF, Lara says he is ready for anyone and that whoever he fights he will take out. And let’s be honest, the Cuban hopes do get moved fast. Featherweight Yuriorkis Gamboa, the former gold medallist, won the WBA title in just his fifteenth pro outing (the interim version anyway) and maybe Lara is capable of being moved just as fast.
Okay, a fight between Lara and Cotto isn’t going to happen; as Cotto takes on Julio Cesar Chavez Junior next (a fighter many fans say isn’t yet ready for a fighter as good as the Puerto Rican) and Miguel has also stated in the past how he intends to retire at age 30. So, it’s highly unlikely we will get to see if Atlas’ idea and intrigue for a Lara challenge of Cotto is the good idea he feels it is. But Lara IS almost certainly going to be put in with a big name soon; maybe in his next fight.
How soon, if at all, will it be before the fast, powerful and well taught southpaw breaks into Ring magazine’s top-ten at light-middleweight?