Erislandy Lara stepping up to face Grady Brewer

by SC on Jan 14, 2010 10:03 AM EST in News Analysis Comment 6 comments

Erislandy Lara will take on savvy veteran Grady Brewer on January 29 in Vegas.

On the January 29 FOX Sports Net broadcast of Gabriel Campillo-Beibut Shumenov II, Cuban sensation Erislandy Lara will take a big step up in competition when he faces former "Contender" champion Grady Brewer in a 10-round junior middleweight feature from Las Vegas.

Lara (9-0, 5 KO) is one of the best prospects in the sport, and has already been featured several times on TV. He's been a regular on ESPN2, and also fought on the Hatton-Pacquiao undercard last May. He has wins over trial horses like Darnell Boone and Jose Varela, and his most recent fight was his first ten-rounder. Lara beat Luciano Perez via decision in that fight.

Brewer (26-11, 15 KO) hasn't been as active as he might have liked since winning the "Contender" series in 2006. He missed all of 2007, and has come back with the same fringe fights he was having before the series, really. He did fight and beat Cornelius Bundrage in one of the worst televised fights of 2008, the last time most saw him in action.

Brewer was set to face Winky Wright in Puerto Rico in December, but that fight predictably fell apart.

Lara-Brewer will be the opening fight of the broadcast on FSN, live on January 29 at 11pm ET.

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Thoughts on Lara

I really like how this boxer has been handled. Bunch of fights at first and plenty of airtime on FNF. Then step up quickly to a more dangerous fighter but still one that you should beat. Its good to know that they don’t need to put meaningless victories before even showcasing this guy to the public. Hopefully this fight will go well and then people will take this model for seasoned amateurs.

by waldo47 on Jan 14, 2010 1:01 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

That depends. The goal isn’t to push fighters as fast as possible, the goal is to push them in a manner that maximizes their development and the quality of their fights over the course of their entire careers. Most promoters go too slow, but it is possible to go too fast. I don’t have any particular reason to think that Golden Boy is going too fast here, but I am suspicious of their track record in that regard. I think they are poor matchmakers in general.

by taco pal on Jan 14, 2010 10:50 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

It's a different story when your prospect is 27 too though

It’s not like Lara is young. He’s in what should be his prime.

Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."

by Brickhaus on Jan 14, 2010 10:54 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

That’s a fair point. I know Kostya Tszyu had a similar career path, for similar reasons. If it was anyone other than Golden Boy, I probably wouldn’t have questioned it at all.

by taco pal on Jan 14, 2010 11:02 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

The comment was mostly because it seems like some of these older prospects are being treated like a green fighter, when they are clearly not. This is good for Lara and lets not pretend like Brewer is exactly a world beater. Lara should have no problem with Brewer, but it is a step up early in his career, so I guess we’ll learn more on Jan 29th.

by waldo47 on Jan 14, 2010 11:49 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I think he might have a few issues with Brewer, but in the end outclasses him. Then again Grady’s been so inactive he might just get blown out in two rounds.

Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."

by SC on Jan 15, 2010 6:49 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs