By Mike Coppinger
Erislandy Lara has been on the wrong end of highly controversial decisions twice in his career .
There was the highway-robbery decision loss to Paul Williams in 2011 on Showtime. Then there was the dubious technical draw with Vanes Martirosyan in 2012. But Lara says he's ready to put the hurt feelings of those losses behind him as he prepares for his third fight on premium network television when he fights Alfredo Anuglo on Showtime on Saturday at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.
“At first, obviously it’s a little frustrating, but when I go back and look at it and think about it, I know what type of world class fighter I am,” Lara said. “I know I beat them both. I just have to look forward and keep trucking.”
Lara (17-1-2, 11 KOs) is confident a win over Angulo will put him in the driver's seat in a hot junior middleweight division. It's a bout he's heavily favored to win among pundits and fans.
“Angulo’s a top guy,” said Lara. “He’s a big name guy, this is definitely a fight that can catapult me. I’ve had a lot of good fights, I’ve been on the wrong end of those decisions, but this is the one.”
Fellow Cubans Guillermo Rigondeaux burst onto the scene with his domination of Nonito Donaire in April. Yuriorkis Gamboa has been a big name fighter in the U.S. for a while now and fights again this Saturday on HBO. Is Lara the next Cuban to make his mark?
“No question about it,” said Lara, 30 “I was in the big fights before both of them. I fought Paul Williams, who I feel is better than anybody either of them fought, including Donaire. I thought Rigondeaux put on a great performance, and you know, now it’s my time, because after the Williams fight no one wanted to fight me.
"Now it’s my opportunity to be back on the stage.”
