By Reynaldo Sanchez

After being informed that Vanes Martirosyan turned down a potential final WBC eliminator, junior middleweight contender Erislandy Lara (16-1-1, 11KOs) is exploring numerous opportunities in the summer. His manager, Luis DeCubas Jr., indicated that Golden Boy Promotions is actively working to secure an opponent for a potential fight in June or July.

Lara said to us - “I want to return to fight as soon as possible, the last fight was very brief, and I am eager to fight again. I have no preferences, I'm ready to fight anyone.”

DeCubas Jr. is disappointed by Vanes' decision.

"It is understandable. I understand that in this business it is necessary to have patience and to wait for the best moments to make fights; this is a business and Vanes pushed away an excellent offer to fight Lara," DeCubas said.

“The options for Lara are wide. We want him to fight very soon. Between these opponents, we've thought about a Paul Williams rematch because this is a very interesting fight and many fans want to see it. Also, we have evaluated fights against other opponents - like Carlos “El Indio” Quintana, who last Saturday knocked out Deandre Latimore in six rounds. Another possibility is Anthony Mundine. But if we don't get these fights, we are going to explore the option of going to middleweight to face a top contender."