Lara-Rodriguez Confirmed For 6/12 In Chicago
May 8, 2015 • 2:19 AM ET
By Jake Donovan
Erislandy Lara will headline the June 12 edition of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on Spike TV. The top-rated junior middleweight will face Delvin Rodriguez in the 12-round main event at UIC Pavillion in Chicago, Illinois.
The headlining attraction was confirmed by Warriors Boxing, who will serve as lead promoter for the show. Lara's place on the show was confirmed last month by BoxingScene.com, although the opponent remained in question until Friday's announcement.
Heavyweight slugger Artur Szpilka, a huge local attraction will be featured in supporting capacity against an opponent to be determined. Szpilka played the same venue just two weeks ago, knocking out Ty Cobb in two rounds right after the Spike TV telecast went off air.
The show was originally to serve as the U.S. debut of longtime cruiserweight titlist Marco Huck. His scheduled mandatory defense versus unbeaten mandatory contender Krzysztof Glowacki was pulled from the show for reasons not yet made available to BoxingScene.com, other than the revelation that the bout has been indefinitely postponed.
Lara (20-2-2, 12KOs) heads into the bout as a recognized titlist in the wake of Floyd Mayweather’s recent announcement of his intentions to dump all the title belts currently in his possession. Among the lot is the WBA junior middleweight title, of which Lara has held a secondary version since his June ’13 come-from-behind stoppage win of Alfredo Angulo.
The 32-year old southpaw—a Cuban defector now training out of Ronnie Shields’ gym in Houston, Texas—is coming off of a 12-round win over Ishe Smith last December. The win was preceded by a disputed split decision loss to Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez last July and a landslide points win over Austin Trout in Dec. ’13.
Rodriguez (28-7-4, 16KOs) has been out of the ring since last May, when he was held to a 10-round draw by veteran spoiler Joachime Alcine in Montreal. His last win came two years ago, stopping Freddy Hernandez in eight rounds before being served up to a comebacking Miguel Cotto, where he was stopped in the third round of their Oct. ’13 bout in Orlando, Florida.
The announcement of the June 12 event comes in conjunction with tickets going on sale Friday morning. Ticket pricesrange from $30–150 (plus applicable fees) and can be purchased on Ticketmaster.com or at the UIC Pavilion box office.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
Jake Donovan is an award-winning journalist who served as senior writer for BoxingScene from 2007-2024, and news editor for the final nine years of his first tour. He was also the lead writer for The Ring before his decision to return home.
