Lara Looking at Kirkland, Ishe Smith, Martirosyan Next

Erislandy Lara hasn’t seen the light, had an epiphany after seeing an L attached to his name following his July 12 fight against Canelo Alvarez in Las Vegas. Nope, his advisor Luis De Cubas Jr. tells me, the Cuban born hitter believes he won the fight, no matter what some judges say, and he resolved to keep on schooling’ foes in that Cuban brand of pugilism.

“Lara will be returning in November or early December,” De Cubas told me. “”We’re working on opponents and he will be defending his (WBA 154 pound) title.”

Some possibilities include bomber James Kirkland, and Ishe Smith and Vanes Martirosyan, he stated. I told him I liked the Kirkland plan best and he chuckled, and said he does too. That said, Lara hasn’t been licking his wounds, or going back to the drawing board, to refashion his style. “It’s not the first time he got jobbed. Against Paul Williams, as well…So he feels one hundred percent he won the fight, so he’s good.”

The boxer, De Cubas said, feels that the best man doesn’t always win, but usually, the bigger name wins, no matter what style is used by both men. “Lara doesn’t feel he has to change his style, because he’s never lost,” he said. De Cubas said that a win is a win, but acknowledges that his man does give himself the best chance to get the W if and when he offers a bit more of an offense-heavy strategy. Thus, more combos could be in the offing, perhaps, if moving forward Lara’s POV on how judges see fights evolves. De Cubas said that Levi Martinez, who saw Canelo a 117-111 winner, and the folks who tallied up the 2011 Paul Williams (MD12) clash were errant, but apart from that, he doesn’t slag judges as a group. “I feel he’s undefeated,” he stated. “And don’t tell me the Dolphins have to beat Peyton Manning by seven points to win, not by a field goal, because Manning will draw more eyeballs. Winning is winning, and things should be fair for everyone in any sport.”

Your take, Forum heavy-hitters? Should a boxer with the talent level of a Lara tweak his style to play to judges who dig volume and unsubtle power-punching?

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