By Steve Kim
While Erislandy Lara (25-2-2, 14 KOs) easily out-boxed Terrell Gausha this past weekend at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn, New York, in defense of his WBA/IBO 154-pound titles, it wasn't a performance that played to rave critical reviews.
The crowd inside the venue could be heard heckling the action (or lack thereof) and the Showtime ratings actually declined during this main event.
When asked about the public reaction to his fighters outing, Ronnie Shields told BoxingScene.com - "Listen, Erislandy Lara's a pure boxer, people complain that he's not exciting but the guy wins all the time no matter who you put in front of him. His style is his style. First they complained that he moves too much. Now, when I sit him down, the other guy doesn't want to fight. So I'm not going to change his style to satisfy everybody. His style is his style, that's the way it goes. Either you like it or you don't."
It didn't help that Gausha didn't consistently press the action, especially after getting sent to the canvas in the fourth round.
"Yeah, I mean, look, Gausha is who he is. He did the best he could do but it wasn't enough but he couldn't do like (Alfredo) Angulo did. Angulo made Lara stand up and fight him toe-to-toe and Gausha just couldn't do it."
As for what's next, Shield's stated - "I don't know, he wants to unify the belts at 154. So it's not a matter of who we fight - he wants to fight everybody."
Two other 154-pound belt-holders were on this card in Brooklyn, IBF titlist, Jarrett Hurd, who stopped a game Austin Trout in ten and WBC champion, Jermell Charlo, who iced Erickson Lubin in one. Charlo, early in his career was under the stewardship of Shields.
But that isn't an issue for the well-respected trainer.
"It's business, I don't make the fights, I'm just the trainer, he has a manager and Al Haymon is his adviser," he pointed out. "Whoever they say he has to fight, he has to fight. All I do is train for whoever they put in front of him."
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.
