41-Year-Old Champion Erislandy Lara Remains Reluctant

PhilBoksing.com
Tuesday, Jul 23, 2024

Age may be just a number, but that phrase doesn’t always carry much weight in professional sports — or in the workplace. The average retirement age worldwide is 67. Of course, in many sports, age doesn’t matter. The world’s oldest footballer, “King” Kazuyoshi Miura, has signed a new contract with a club in Japan at the age of 57.

But boxing is different. As a combat sport, it carries risks that other activities do not, which is why the International Boxing Association (IBA) sets an upper age limit of 40. However, there are some exceptions.

Erisland Lara

Cuban-American boxer Erislandy Lara, known for his controversial bout with Canelo Alvarez in 2014, is 41 years old. He is also the current middleweight champion of the World Boxing Association (WBA).
What makes things even stranger is that Article 1 of the WBA’s Medical and Safety Guidelines sets the upper age limit for professional boxing at 36, with one exception: fighting a few days over the maximum age in a championship bout (1).

Source: Pexels.

Lara has been a scourge in boxing for some time now. The boxer has been the WBA champion since 2021 and has contributed to what PremierBoxingVault calls a “sloppy” start to 2024 by continuing to stay away from boxing since May 2022. It wasn’t entirely his fault. The WBA didn’t have a lined-up opponent. However, the gap between Lara’s most recent bouts meant he was in breach of the WBA’s rules. Champions must defend their titles within nine months.

Analysts wondered if Lara should be stripped of his title entirely. That didn’t happen, and Lara defended his title with a knockout against Michael Zerafa on April 1. Notably, the Australian Zerafa was only 32 years old. Lara turned 41 ten days later.

Bernard Hopkins

There are so many questions. Lara knows he’s in the twilight of his career — or, as the man himself puts it, “at the end.” “I’m fighting for my legacy,” Lara said ahead of his August bout with Danny Garcia in 2023, which was canceled on the first of that month. The sentiment on social media was that both men were too old to be worth the promoters’ effort. It could have been worth it as an undercard.

There were whispers at the time that the fight against Garcia would be Lara’s last hurrah in the ring. Whether the cancellation derailed his retirement plans, given that there was no Canelo fight coming up in the near future, is up for debate. Lara has a sense that he may have come as far as he can in the sport, having surpassed Thomas LaManna in claiming the WBA title in 2021, which explains the World Boxing Association’s recent hesitation towards the Guantanamo-born fighter.

Despite his age, Lara still has a lot to give. He compares himself to retired middleweight Bernard Hopkins, who hung up his gloves eight years ago in 2016. He would have been 51 at the time. His career ended dramatically when he fell out of the ring against Joe Smith Jr., but by that point he had amassed 56 wins against eight losses and two draws, making that bout a footnote in a decades-long story.

Special Approval

Why is the WBA so open to abandoning the rulebook? Professional boxers at all levels are subject to rigorous health checks, so some caution is taken when allowing veterans to fight. Indeed, Lara will have received specific approval from the WBA to continue his career beyond his stated retirement date.

Source: Pexels.

To use a similar example, despite what is rightfully considered a farce in the boxing world, Mike Tyson, 58, will fight Jake Paul under official guidelines. In other words, this is a bout sanctioned by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation and will count towards each man’s record. Tyson’s is 50-6 (44 KOs) and Paul’s is 9-1 (6 KOs). The department’s approval makes this as valid as any other main event.

The bout was a hit with sports betting fans in Canada, but markets on it were suspended after Tyson temporarily withdrew due to a stomach ulcer. Attention has since turned to matches such as Nathan Heaney vs. Brad Pauls and Joe Joyce vs. Derek Chisora.

Erislandy Lara is nearly two decades younger than Tyson (and in a different weight class), so it’s worth putting some distance between the two fighters, but safety concerns remain.

Heritage

So what’s next for Erislandy Lara? In a word, nothing. The Cuban-American doesn’t have a fight scheduled, which brings us back to Lara’s strange relationship with the WBA. Some potential matchups include Danny Garcia, Jermall Charlo and an anticipated fight against Brian Castano, but things are moving slowly. He just got out of the ring with Michael Zerafa.

Overall, it’s clear Lara wants to cement his legacy in middleweight boxing, regardless of what others think.

(1) https://www.wbaboxing.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/WBA-Rules-11.08.2023.pdf

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