By: Sean Crose
Erislandy Lara is known as “The American Dream” for a reason. Coming to the United States from oppressive Cuba, the lean and skilled Lara has proven himself to be one of the top practitioners in the sport for at least the last ten years. Now, at forty-one years of age, the veteran former titlist will be facing another name that was prominent a decade ago – the still popular Philly fighter Danny Garcia. Their scheduled 12 rounder will be on the undercard of this Saturday night’s Canelo Alvarez-Edgar Berlanga pay per view card. It’s been a while since either Lara or Garcia was at the top of the sport, but this is still an interesting matchup.
Lara, after all, is from the Cuban school of boxing, which means the man fights in a slick, polished style that can frustrate and dominate an opponent. Yet Lara has shown he can also hit when he needs to. Three of the guy’s last four fights (all wins) have ended within the distance. What’s more, the three loses to be found on Lara’s 30-3-3 resume came at the gloved fists of notables Paul Williams, Jarrett Hurd, and Canelo, respectively. Indeed there are those – this writer included – who felt Lara should have been given the judge’s nod for his battle with Canelo.
As for Garcia, the now 36 year old fighter has had an impressive career. While he may have lost close fights to the likes of Errol Spence, Shawn Porter and Keith Thurman, Garcia has defeated such notables as Amir Khan, Zab Judah, Lucas Matthysse, Erik Morales and others. Put simply, the man has earned the respect and accolades he has received. He hasn’t fought in over two years, however, which makes it worth wondering how the aging former titlist will perform in the ring against fellow aging former titlist Lara this weekend.
No matter, really. Sure, these two are over the hill, but this fight will answer the core question of every boxing match worth watching: Which guy is better? When it comes to fighters people know (even older ones) the question becomes all the more enticing. Truth be told, some might argue Lara-Garcia is a more enticing fight on paper than the Canelo-Berlanga bout is, which looks to likely be a one sided schooling from Canelo. Boxing being boxing, one never knows. A matchup between two known commodities, however, is certainly fascinating. And Lara-Garcia will be a throwdown between two known commodities who have been around for quite some time.
Images: PBC