By Elisinio Castillo
Luis DeCubas Jr., manager of former unified junior middleweight world champion Erislandy Lara, has rejected various claims being made by the World Boxing Council.
On Tuesday, the WBC began circulating what DeCubas called "inaccurate information" regarding his fighter.
The WBC issued a press release, which claimed Lara - through a notification from DeCubas - made a request to leave the Clean Boxing Program, which is the WBC's drug testing protocol being run by VADA [Voluntary Anti-Doping Association].
According to the WBC, because Lara wanted to leave their drug testing program, they were forced to immediately remove him from their rankings.
Not so, says DeCubas.
According to the boxer's manager, they only made a request to leave the WBC's rankings.
The WBC had ordered Lara to face Julian Williams in a final eliminator for a shot at current world champion Jermell Charlo.
But Lara is heading in another direction.
Lara has already agreed to fight undefeated WBA "regular" junior middleweight champion Brian Castano, who is widely regarded as a rising star in the weight class. The WBA also has a drug testing program run by VADA for their world title fights.
Because of their decision to pursue the fight with Castano, DeCubas asked the WBC to drop his boxer from their rankings.
"This news by the WBC is inaccurate. They were asked to remove Lara from the rankings because he will be challenging for the WBA world title against Brian Castano. Our teams are working on the exact particulars for more details. Also, this was done to give the opportunities to other younger fighters to enter the rankings and challenge for the WBC title," DeCubas told BoxingScene.com.
"Erislandy has done multiple tests for multiple fights and will continue to do so with local commissions and/or USADA. It's disappointing that the WBC didn't clarify the reason on why he left the WBC rankings."
