Erislandy Lara Turns Away Spunky Greg Vendetti

Erislandy Lara successfully defended his WBA 154-pound world title at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles  with a unanimous decision over Greg Vendetti before a national TV audience on FOX. The fight was monotonous, no disrespect to Vendetti who had a lot going against him as the “B” side fighter toiling a long way from home fighting a southpaw with a high ring IQ who is a borderline Hall of Famer. (Lara brought a 26-3-3 record, but all three of his losses could have gone the other way.)

Vendetti, who rarely took a backward step, lost by scores of 116-112 and 117-111 twice. The Wakefield, Massachusetts campaigner came in having won 20 of his last 21 fights, but hadn’t looked good in his previous step-up fight, getting stopped in the second round by Michel Soro in France.

In common with his former amateur teammate Guillermo Rigondeux, Lara has been faulted for lacking a fan-friendly style. He did nothing tonight to temper that opinion.

Co-Feature

The co-feature was a 10-round brawl between 38-year-old warhorse Alfredo Angulo and late sub Vladimir Hernandez. Angulo has been in a lot of hard fights and tonight he looked like an old 38. He started slow, as was his custom, but never did find his groove. Hernandez, 31, was fleshy around the midsection, but was yet well-conditioned; he never ran out of gas and his workrate carried him to his career-best win.

Hernandez, a southpaw, was a late sub for Caleb Truax who reportedly suffered dehydration in an attempt to make weight. All three judges had it 98-92 for Hernandez who improved his ledger to 12-4. Angulo slumped to 26-8. The scores of the judges were incongruent with the CompuBox punch stats, but Compubox had an off night.

Other Bouts

The TV opener was an entertaining 8-round clash between unbeaten junior welterweights Luis Arcon and Abram Martinez. Both fighters hit the deck during heated exchanges. Martinez’s back was against the ropes when he put Arcon down with a left uppercut in round two. Arcon scored his knockdown with a left hook with only few seconds to go in the final round and with that punch he skirted his first pro loss, salvaging a draw. Arcon, a 2016 Olympian for Venezuelan had won all 10 of his previous by stoppage. The Las Vegas-based Martinez is 8-0-1.

In a 10-round match contested at 154 pounds, Brian Mendoza improved to 19-1 with a unanimous but controversial decision over New Jersey’s Thomas “Cornflake” LaManna (28-4-1). Mendoza, who trains in Las Vegas under Ismael Salas, did his best work in the late rounds to to win by scores of 97-93 and 98-92 twice.

Junior welterweight Justin Pauldo improved to 14-1 with an 8-round unanimous decision over Honduras native Josec Ruiz (21-4-3). The scores were 80-72 and 79-73 twice.

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