At 41, Erislandy Lara’s best years as a boxer are long behind him. He is even older than all other well-known boxers who are hanging up their boxing gloves.
But Lara’s trainer says the WBA middleweight titleholder is still capable of fighting at a high level.
“He’s rejuvenated,” Ismael Salas said in a recent interview with ProBox TV. “Every time we work with him, he looks a lot better.” (Full disclosure: ProBox owns BoxingScene.com.)
Lara (30-3-3, 18 KOs) will defend his title against Danny Garcia (37-3, 21 KOs) this Saturday in the pay-per-view undercard of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga. The pay-per-view is available on Amazon Prime Video, DAZN, PPV.com and via traditional cable and satellite channels.
Garcia is the former lineal junior welterweight champion and former welterweight titleholder who has fought in a class above 147 pounds only once, when he defeated Jose Benavidez Jr. in a junior middleweight bout in 2022. Lara vs. Garcia will be contested at a contractual catchweight of 157 pounds, instead of the usual middleweight limit of 160 pounds.
Salas noted that the first thing an aging fighter does is lose his strength in his legs.
“That’s the first sign that the coordination of legs and arms is disturbed when a fighter is already knocking on the door,” said Salas. “And luckily we have Erislandy Lara, who has very good coordination.”
But there is still a difference between the old Lara and this older Lara, said the coach.
“He has changed his style,” Salas said. “He moves less and hits more and with more power.”
Lara placed an emphasis on movement in his controversial split decision loss to Canelo in 2013. And while there were fights in the years that followed where Lara threw more power than boxed, he also had a number of aesthetically unpleasant performances.
“He prefers to wait for his punches,” Salas said. “He is no longer the Erislandy Lara who wasted moves.”
That’s not to say Lara doesn’t defend himself anyway. But it’s his way of defending himself – Salas says Lara moves his hips more and less with his legs and blocks punches with his arms and gloves.
Lara needs to continue to have a clever defense while also being interesting on offense if he wants to continue in boxing. And that is the plan, despite his advanced age.
“We have had several conversations about his future,” Salas said. “And one of the things Lara told me is that boxers, unfortunately and fortunately, make a living from boxing. He says he will continue as long as his health allows him to train and fight.”
David Greisman, who has been covering boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. He is co-moderator of the United Boxing Podcast. David’s book “Fighting words: Heart and suffering of boxing”, is available on Amazon.
