By Miguel Rivera
WBA 'regular' junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara (21-2-2, 12KOs) has long been interested in a fight with WBA/IBO middleweight champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin. But if Lara is unable to get a fight with GGG, he is open to facing another middleweight beltholder in WBO champion Andy Lee (34-2-1, 24KOs).
Lara's adviser Al Haymon is not on good terms with cable network HBO, who have Golovkin under an exclusive deal. But Lee's promoter, Lou DiBella, is very close with Haymon.
Lee defends his title against mandatory challenger Billy Joe Saunders on September 19th. Lara, who dominated Delvin Rodriguez over twelve rounds last month, will also return in the fall - probably in October or November.
"I think Erislandy will return in late October or early November. He is resting, waiting for the next opponent. The problem is that nobody wants to fight him after watching what he did with Canelo Alvarez, Austin Trout and Alfredo Angulo. They recognized his potential. The good news is, he will remain active and sooner or later he will end up facing these opponents," said his manager Luis DeCubas Jr. to ESPN Deportes.
"He makes 154 perfect. But he would go to 160 if Andy Lee wins. He would fight Andy. And if that doesn't happen, then we'd try to get a fight with Golovkin."