By Cliff Rold

Some opponents make a hot prospect look better.  Other opponents actually make them better.  The two ideas are not mutually exclusive, but often in boxing, with the pressure of television lights bearing down, one is chosen over the other.

And the choice is too often style over substance.

This Friday night it won’t be the case for 26-year old Erislandy Lara (9-0, 5 KO) of Cuba.  He’ll be stepping in with awkward, schooled veteran Grady Brewer (26-11, 15 KO) on the undercard of the WBA Light Heavyweight title rematch between Gabriel Campillo and Beibut Shumenov.  Even at 39, the Contender Season Two winner Brewer represents on paper not just the stiffest test of Lara’s career but arguably the stiffest test any of the current, hot Cuban crop has faced.

That the Brewer fight has been made says his people think he can win.

That Brewer could make him look less than sensational even if he does says a lot about what his real long term prospects are hoped to be. 

Brewer is likely to be motivated for the contest, unready to play the opponent.  After all, he hasn’t been the luckiest fighter in recent years.  His breakthrough moment didn’t break him through after years on the fringes. 

Before reality television success found him, Brewer had an up and down career.  Among his early losses were rising World Champions Jermain Taylor by decision and Kelly Pavlik by knockout.  He upset then mega-prospect Anthony Thompson by knockout in 2004 and lost a controversial call to Sechew Powell later in the year, putting Powell on the floor before it went to the cards. 

2006 was his memorable Contender run, a streak of five wins that ended with a decision over former Jr. Lightweight titlist Steve Forbes.  Injuries kept him from capitalizing, sticking him on the shelf until 2008 but it’s not lost that he enters the Lara fight with a career best eight fight winning streak.

His age doesn’t mean he’s shot, but it does mean Brewer is short on chances.  Whatever his best is, he’ll bring it to the ring on Friday.

What Lara’s best is, or can be, remains to be seen in the paid ranks.  The record is clear about what sort of potential is there.  An Amateur Welterweight World Champion in 2005, the southpaw defected before he could make a run at Olympic Gold in 2008.  He would have been a favorite.

Now competing as a Jr. Middleweight and Middleweight, it’s easy to peg him as a favorite for major professional titles but also easy for him to get lost in the shuffle.

Last weekend a fellow Cuban, Featherweight Yuriorkis Gamboa (17-0, 15 KO) dropped jaws with a display of speed and power which simply overwhelmed the usually durable Rogers Mtagwa.  Jr. Featherweight Guillermo Rigondeaux (4-0, 3 KO), one of the greatest amateurs of all-time, has already toppled a 70-plus fight veteran by knockout and could be ready to challenge for a belt before his tenth fight. 

Gamboa has been a pro just shy of three years, Rigondeaux less than a year, but both bring a speed and flash to the ring which makes them stick out more than Lara.  It’s not that Lara lacks for speed or power, but his is the package which pays off over time.  It’s all beautiful footwork and deliberate execution.

It’s, so far, the recipe for steady professionalism.  It’s the picture of a fighter being crafted for a longer run.  Younger than either of the other two of what are considered the best of the Cubans, he’s has a luxury of the clock they may not.

He also has a far different field than they have in front of them. 

With Juan Manuel Lopez already out of the Jr. Featherweights and being moved towards a hoped-for big fight with Gamboa, and with unified 122 lb. titlist Celestino Caballero likely to follow both up to the 126 lb. Featherweight class, Jr. Featherweight is opening wide up with only a couple of dangerous titlists to outright avoid for the time being.  It’s the perfect spot for Rigondeaux to make quick moves. 

Gamboa has a Featherweight field which is in need of fresh blood and can be, in part, molded around his remaining development.

Lara, conversely, is coming of age in a youth movement at both 154 and 160 lbs.  Russia’s Matt Korobov (9-0, 7 KO), American Olympians Demetrius Andrade (9-0, 7 KO) and Shawn Estrada (6-0, 6 KO), Fernando Guerrero (17-0, 14 KO), and Shawn Porter (12-0, 10) are among the leaders of the new pack with other young fighters like Alfredo Angulo, James Kirkland, and Yuri Foreman already having made their way into contention or towards serious belts.

Lara’s path to bigger things isn’t easy to craft around him.  It’s not easy to craft at all.  To navigate towards the hopes of becoming the very best of this blue chip wave, his development by design will have to be more deliberate, taking moments to impress where they emerge but sacrificing some of that for the impressions that last.

Grady Brewer, a proven spoiler, as Lara’s tenth professional opponent is just risky enough to raise the eyebrows.  It’s a winnable fight with what politicos might call ‘teachable moments.’  By night’s end he might have had the opportunity to look better than he has so far. 

Far more important, by the time the final bell rings, even if the victory is tougher to come by than Lara or his team would desire, he almost certainly will have become a little bit better. 

The real payoff for that might not come for a couple of years, but if it does it will be the sort of payoff which keeps the checks coming.

Weekly Ledger

Cliff’s Notes…

So Erik Morales is making a comeback?  Yeah, this probably doesn’t end well…Holyfield-Botha is called off?  Darn.  It’s hard to count how many people were looking forward to that one.  If any readers know of someone who actually was, please inform.  That would be truly shocking…Why is Freddie Roach still questioning the courage of Floyd Mayweather?  Isn’t his guy scared of needles or something?...Chris John says he wants Juanma Lopez or Yuriorkis Gamboa.  Good.  Before those two get all into fighting each other, it would be best they go through the best Featherweight in the world first.  Who wants to watch the race for second place?...David Haye-John Ruiz is coming and, oh, never mind…Koki Kameda-Pongsaklek Wonjongkam is one of my favorite fight made so far this year.

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com