Erislandy Lara RETAINED World Title in Las Vegas

September 18, 2024

Erislandy Lara, a member of "Canelo's" team and his sparring partner, was a true shadow for Danny García in Las Vegas.

Erislandy Lara, a true warrior of professional boxing, retained the WBA middleweight title by defeating Puerto Rican Danny García by KO last Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in the co-main event of the card scheduled for 12 rounds, which features the fight between Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez and Edgar Berlanga as the main attraction.

The Cuban has defied the passage of time and at 41 years old arrived with a record of 33 professional fights, 30 of them concluded with victory and 18 by knockout. For his part, Danny García had 40 fights, with only three losses and 21 KOs, although it should be noted that since 2020 he had barely fought once, on July 30, 2022, when he defeated José Benavidez Jr.

Erislandy Lara came into the fight with three consecutive victories, all of them for the World Title, the last one against Michael Zerafa, by KO on March 30.

From the start of the fight, Erislandy Lara took the fight to his territory. Making an intelligent fight, without much volume of punches, but always he having the better of it. In the first three rounds they landed 29 effective punches, 21 of them from the Cuban.

Erislandy, a member of "Canelo's" team and his sparring partner, was a true shadow for García who could not find him in the ring with a counter-punching style and from long range he dominated without problems the first half of the fight. It is worth noting that although he was always ahead, it was not the fight of the century for the Islander.

The eighth round had a more active finish when Erislandy Lara landed several good punches in the final seconds. Up to that round, 85 effective impacts had been landed, 53 for the Cuban and 32 for the Puerto Rican.

The big surprise came in the ninth round, when a missed left hook impacted García's face forcing him to take a knee. Although the bell rang, he could not continue and the referee declared him out of the fight.
Interesting facts from Erislandy Lara's fight

According to data from the specialized website Boxrec, this was Erislandy Lara's twelfth victory in World Title fights out of 14 he has fought. Furthermore, throughout his career, he has never lost by unanimous decision.

At 41 years old he is the longest-reigning active world champion and the oldest Cuban to ever win a world title in the entire history of professional boxing.

The main card of the event started with the presence of former world champion Rolly Romero, who returned after being knocked out by Pitbull Cruz in March. Romero, with a record of 15-2-0, faced Mexican-American Manuel Jaimes (16-1-1) whom he defeated in 10 rounds by unanimous decision.

Prior to Erislandy Lara's fight, Trevor McCumby fell to a devastating KO at the hands of Caleb Plant, who won the interim WBA super middleweight title in a tremendous fight that drove the crowd wild.

Erislandy Lara, at 41 years old, is the longest-reigning active world champion and the oldest Cuban to ever win a world title in the entire history of boxing.