Premier Boxing Champions 2015: Fight Card and TV Schedule for November 25
Erislandy Lara (21-2-2, 12 KO) is one of the best fighters in the world, but he rarely gets credit for his skills. In any case, his art will be on display on Wednesday night at Hialeah Park Racing and Casino in Miami, Florida.
Expect a large contingent of Cuban fans on hand for the man from the Pearl of the Antilles as he defends his WBA world super welterweight title against former IBF welterweight champion Jan Zaveck (35-3, 19 KO).
The bout will presented by Premier Boxing Champions, and it will air on ESPN.
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When: Wednesday, November 25, at 8 p.m. ET
Where: Hialeah Park Racing and Casino in Miami, Florida
TV: ESPN
Lara vs. Zaveck is the only bout scheduled to be televised, but you can see the entire card at BoxRec.com.
Honestly, this fight isn't moving the needle for most boxing fans. Raging Babe's tweet seems to be a fair assessment of most fight fans' level of interest:
The 32-year-old Lara is known for his excellent defense and cat-like reflexes. Like fellow Cuban Guillermo Rigondeaux, Lara's style has been criticized and labeled as boring by some.
However, when it comes to the true art of hitting and avoiding punishment, few do it as well as Lara. Unfortunately for Lara—and others like him—his style doesn't create intrigue. Still, most should recognize the solid career he's had thus far.
The only losses on his record have been disputable. First, there was the horrible majority-decision defeat to Paul Williams in July 2011. Lara deserved to win but was robbed by incompetent judging.
Subsequently, the three judges assigned to the fight were banned.
Lara's only other professional loss came at the hands of Saul "Canelo" Alvarez in July 2014. This one was a split decision and also brought on some criticism, but not as much as the fight with Williams. Lara got on his horse a bit too much late against Canelo, and that led to his defeat.
Lara's bout with Canelo took place in Las Vegas, and that explains his skepticism about competing in Sin City.
In his last fight, Lara boxed circles around Delvin Rodriguez in a one-sided rout that ended with all three judges scoring the fight 120-107 in the Cuban's favor. While he dropped Rodriguez once in the bout, some may have taken Lara to task for not finishing his overmatched opponent.
It will be interesting to see what approach he takes against Zaveck.
The 39-year-old Slovenian will be in just his fourth super welterweight bout after fighting almost his entire career at 147 pounds. He was never a big puncher, as his modest knockout totals indicate. Without KO power in his toolbox, he'll find it hard to disturb Lara's rhythm.
Zaveck pulled out a hard-fought, unanimous-decision win over Sasha Yengoyan in April, but he didn't look especially sharp. He'll need to be better if he hopes to have any chance of dethroning Lara.
Per OddsShark.com, Lara is a 1-65 favorite. Those are long odds, but they're appropriate for this matchup. Perhaps Zaveck can shock the world, but don't bet on it.
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