By Elisinio Castillo
WBA junior middleweight champion Erislandy 'The American Dream' Lara (22-2-2, 13KOs) will be watching when Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez defends his WBC middleweight title against Amir Khan on Saturday night from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Lara lost a close, and some felt controversial, split decision to Canelo in July of 2014.
The Cuban fighter is scheduled to return to the ring later this month, when he defends his belt on May 21 in a rematch with Vanes Martirosyan from Las Vegas' Cosmopolitan Hotel & Casino.
Lara expects Canelo to win tomorrow night by knockout.
"I think this is a fight tailor-made for Canelo. He’s got a smaller fighter coming up who has a suspect chin. If he doesn’t get the knockout, I’ll be surprised. I do think it’s going to be an exciting fight for the fans, for as long as it lasts. I'm going with Canelo by knockout in four," Lara stated to BoxingScene.com.
The winner of Canelo vs. Khan has been ordered to make a mandatory defense against IBO/WBA/IBF middleweight champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (35-0, 32KOs).
It does not appear that Canelo is too interested in the fight, at least until a later date, and only if Golovkin agrees to a catch-weight of 155. Lara is willing to fight Canelo with a contracted stipulation of fighting Golovkin next. He feels Canelo should just vacate the belt and return to 154-pounds.
"Boxing is a business when you are a popular, but not really a talented fighter. So I understand why they don't want to fight GGG. I say give up the belt and come down to my weight. I'm willing to fight Canelo next and winner signs off on fighting GGG after that. There's always unfinished business when there's debatable fights and me and Canelo have a settle to score," Lara said.
"I’ve already made it public that I would fight [Golovkin], but I’m not focused on him. I have a tough fight with Vanes coming up so I’ll stay focused on him, but my record speaks for itself. I will fight anyone, anywhere and at any weight."
