By: Sean Crose
On Friday night, the World Boxing Association issued the following statement on social media: “The WBA Championships Committee, in another decision following the world title reduction plan, ordered the fight between the Super Heavyweight Champion Middleweight Gennady Golovkin (@GGGBoxing) and his mandatory challenger Erislandy. Lara (@Laraboxing) #GGGLara.” And it appears that Gennady Golovkin, fresh off his one-sided loss to Canelo Alvarez last weekend, has been ordered to defend his WBA middleweight title against Erislandy Lara, who has also been ordered to defend HIS middleweight title. of the WBA against Golovkin. It is true that the WBA has too many titles, after all, and now it wants to simplify things a bit. After all, there should only be one champion per weight division.
It’s still a solid matchup, though it’s clear at this point that each fighter is past their prime. That’s a shame, because in their best moments these two were something else. Now, however, Golovkin is forty years old. Lara, meanwhile, is thirty-six years old. Needless to say, both the Golovkin and Lara sides have thirty days to reach an agreement. If no deal is reached, the fight promotion will go to the highest bidder in an auction known as an auction. If a stock offer were to occur, Golovkin would get three-quarters of the profit.
In addition to having impressive records, each man has Canelo in common. Canelo beat Lara by decision in an extremely close fight in 2014, a battle some felt Lara deserved to win. Golovkin, of course, had two extremely close and controversial fights with Canelo, in 2017 and 2018 respectively. However, Golovkin was nothing like his old self when he and Canelo finally met for the third time last Saturday. As for Lara, his last fight was an impressive eighth-round knockout of Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan last spring.
Truth be told, this still has the makings of a fascinating fight. Golovkin didn’t look like he did last weekend, but an old-fashioned Golovkin is still way better than most in the modern fighting game. As for Lara, he has shown that she can still beat the naming competition easily and in an entertaining way. As long as each man still has the ability to perform effectively in the ring, his contrasting styles, combined with his likeable personalities, could make this battle, if it fails, a must-see event for serious fans. It may not be a game changer, but a Golovkin-Lara fight could very well make for an excellent night of boxing.
