Erislandy Lara

Erislandy Lara
Statistics
Real name	Erislandy Lara Santoya
Nickname(s)	El Oro de Guantanamo The American Dream
Rated at	Light Middleweight
Height	5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Reach	75 in (191 cm)
Nationality	Cuban
Born	(1983-04-11) April 11, 1983 Guantanamo, Cuba
Stance	Southpaw
Boxing record
Total fights	24
Wins	20
Wins by KO	12
Losses	2
Draws	2
Medal record Men's Boxing Competitor for  Cuba World Amateur Championships Gold 2005 Mianyang Welterweight Central American and Caribbean Games Gold 2006 Cartagena Welterweight World Cup Silver 2005 Moscow Welterweight

Erislandy Lara Santoya (born April 11, 1983) is a Cuban boxer. He is the current WBA light middleweight champion as well as the 2005 amateur world champion at welterweight.

Amateur career

In 2003 and 2004 Lara lost four times against two-time world champion Lorenzo Aragon.

In 2005 after Aragon stepped down Lara bested his countryman Yudel Jhonson Cedeno repeatedly and was sent to the world championships. There he avenged an earlier loss to Russian Andrey Balanov, beat American Boyd Melson, upset top favorite and Olympic champion Bakhtiyar Artayev (31–22) and won Gold against Magomed Nurutdinov (BLR).

Lara has lost twice to another Kazakh: Bakhyt Sarsekbayev. In their only meeting he beat American world champ Demetrius Andrade 9:4.

World Cup

• 2005 in Moscow, Russia (welterweight)
  • Defeated Manon Boonjumnong (Thailand) 21–9
  • Defeated Stefan Dragomir (Romania) RSC-3
  • Defeated Bakhyt Sarsekbayev (Kazakhstan) 39–33
  • Lost to Andrey Balanov (Russia) 21–36

Defection

In 2007, Erislandy Lara, together with Guillermo Rigondeaux, defected from Cuba before the PanAm games. Some weeks later he was caught by Brazilian authorities and was returned to Cuba, where he was banned from practicing boxing indefinitely.

In 2008 he made a second defection attempt, this time on a speed boat to Mexico, and succeeded. He has since made his way to Hamburg, Germany, where he joined former Olympic champions Odlanier Solis, Yan Barthelemy and Yuriorkis Gamboa in the Arena Box-Promotion stable.

Pro career

On January 1 of 2009, Lara made his ESPN debut against Rodrigo Aguiar, Lara won the fight via TKO in the 1st round.

His following fight came on February 20 against Keith Gross, Erislandy Lara dropped Gross with a left hand, Gross beat the count on wobbly legs, Lara continue unleashing combinations to the head and body, a left uppercutt finished the fight in the 1st round.

On May 2, 2009 in the Pacquiao vs Hatton undercard, Lara faced Chris Gray, Lara won the fight via Unanimous Decision.

On May 22, Lara faced Aging Edwin Vazquez, Erislandy Lara finished the fight with good combinations which prompted the referee to stop the fight, On that same night Cuban fellow Guillermo Rigondeaux made his pro debut, which he won via referee stoppage in the third round.

After beating Edwin Vazquez, Erislandy Lara went on to win 9 straight fights, including four consecutive first round knock out victories. On March 25, 2011, he fought Carlos Molina to a 10 round majority draw. The scores were 97–93 for Molina, 95–95 and 95–95 even.^[1]

Lara fought former WBO Welterweight champion Paul Williams on July 9, 2011, in Atlantic City, where he lost a majority decision. Judges Don Givens (116–114) and Hilton Whitaker II (115–114) both favored Williams, while Al Bennett scored it even at 114–114.^[2] Most fans and boxing analysts believed that Lara had been robbed by the judges^[3]

On April 20, 2012, Lara made his comeback to the ring after 9 months to fight Ronald Hearns for the WBC light middleweight semi-final eliminator spot at the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. The fight, which was settled to 10 rounds simply lasted 1 minute and 34 seconds as Lara delivered an impressive TKO in the very first round. Referee Keith Hughes decided to stop the fight after Lara had sent Hearns to the canvas once with a clean left hook that required count and immediately after delivered two fast combinations (one of which also required count) that seemed to be enough to overwhelm Hearns who seconds before the stop by the referee appeared to be defenseless upon Lara's final combination. Consequently Lara improved to a 16-1-1.

Lara is now represented by Al Haymon and Luis Decubas, Jr.^[4]

Lara fought Saúl Álvarez on July 12, 2014 at the MGM Grand in a non-title match, Lara's WBA title was not on the line as the fight took place at a 155 lb catchweight and both fighters weighed in at precisely 155 lbs. In a very close and competitive fight that went to a split decision, Álvarez came out on top with the two judges scoring 115–113 in favour of each fighter and the final judge scoring 117–111 in favour of Álvarez.^[5] Many fans and experts alike believed Lara was once again robbed: in the bout he landed 55 jabs and 55 power punches to Álvarez's 7 jabs and 88 power punches for an overall accuracy rate of 28% as opposed to Álvarez's 23%.^[6] Although the decision remains controversial, any talk of a rematch in the future was dismissed out of hand by Oscar De La Hoya who went on to say that "No one wants a rematch".^[7] This fight brought Lara's record to 19–2–2.

Professional record

20 Wins (12 knockouts), 2 Losses, 2 Draws [8]
Res.	Record	Opponent	Type	Rd., Time	Date	Location	Notes
style="background: #ececec; color: grey; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-na" | N/A	style="background: #ececec; color: grey; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-na" | N/A	Delvin Rodriguez[9]	style="background: #ececec; color: grey; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-na" | N/A	- (12)	style="background: #ececec; color: grey; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-na" | N/A	style="background: #ececec; color: grey; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-na" | N/A	Defending WBA (Regular) Light Middleweight title.
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win	20-2-2	Ishe Smith	UD	12	2014-12-12	llusions Theater, San Antonio, Texas	Retained WBA (Regular) Light Middleweight title.
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |Loss	19–2–2	Saul Alvarez	SD	12	2014-07-12	MGM Grand Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win	19–1–2	Austin Trout	UD	12	2013-12-07	Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York	Retained interim WBA Light Middleweight title. Later promoted to regular champion.
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win	18–1–2	Alfredo Angulo	TKO	10 (12), 1:11	2013-06-08	Home Depot Center, Carson, California	Won interim WBA Light Middleweight title.
Draw	17–1–2	Vanes Martirosyan	TD	9 (12), 0:26	2012-11-10	Wynn Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada	WBC Light Middleweight Title Eliminator.
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win	17–1–1	Freddy Hernández	UD	10 (10)	2012-06-30	Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, Indio, California
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win	16–1–1	Ronald Hearns	TKO	1 (10), 1:34	2012-04-20	Beau Rivage, Biloxi, Mississippi
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |Loss	15–1–1	Paul Williams	MD	12	2011-07-09	Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey	WBC Light Middleweight Title Eliminator. Judges suspended after controversial scoring.[10]
Draw	15–0–1	Carlos Molina	MD	10	2011-03-25	Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win	15–0	Delray Raines	KO	1 (10), 2:59	2011-01-14	Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, Indio, California
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win	14–0	Tim Connors	TKO	1 (10), 1:38	2010-11-27	MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada	Won vacant WBA Fedelatin Light Middleweight title.
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win	13–0	Willie Lee	TKO	1 (10), 1:48	2010-08-18	Monroe Civic Center, Monroe, Louisiana
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win	12–0	William Correa	TKO	1 (10), 2:34	2010-07-09	Softball Country Arena, Denver, Colorado
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win	11–0	Danny Perez	UD	10	2010-04-02	Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win	10–0	Grady Brewer	TKO	10 (10), 2:44	2010-01-29	Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win	9–0	Luciano Perez	UD	10	2009-12-12	UIC Pavilion, Chicago, Illinois
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win	8–0	Jose Varela	KO	1 (8), 2:12	2009-09-19	MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win	7–0	Darnell Boone	UD	6	2009-07-17	Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win	6–0	Edwin Vazquez	TKO	4 (8), 1:13	2009-05-22	Fontainebleau Hotel, Miami, Florida
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win	5–0	Chris Gray	UD	4	2009-05-02	MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win	4–0	Keith Gross	KO	1 (4), 1:09	2009-02-20	University Center Arena, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win	3–0	Rodrigo Aguiar	TKO	1 (4), 2:59	2009-01-09	Buffalo Bill's, Primm, Nevada
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win	2–0	Deniss Aleksejevs	TKO	1 (4), 2:19	2008-09-12	Kugelbake Halle, Cuxhaven, Niedersachsen
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win	1–0	Ivan Maslov	PTS	4	2008-07-04	Bueyuek Anadolu Hotel, Ankara	Lara's professional debut.

References

External links

• Amateur record
• Professional boxing record for Erislandy Lara from BoxRec
• ESPN Record