Steve Kim mentioned on Twitter today that Erislandy Lara and Deandre Latimore are under consideration to replace Nobuhiro Ishida against Paul Williams on July 9, televised by HBO. Yesterday, HBO brass made the decision to withdraw approval of Williams vs Ishida.
Latimore (22-3, 17 KO) called out Williams about a month ago:
"I think me and Williams makes for a great TV fight, one that fans want to see, and it should be easy to make, too. I'm looking for a big opportunity on one of the major networks to showcase the new, complete Deadre Latimore. Williams says he is the most avoided fighter in boxing. Well, I'm not avoiding him, and he needs to put up or shut up. Let's do it!"
Lara (15-0-1, 10 KO) last fought on March 25, going to a draw with Carlos Molina. It's good to see that the Cuban import isn't looking to step back, but instead move forward from a disappointing performance. Lara and Latimore were reportedly discussing a July 29 fight on Friday Night Fights against each other, but you can't blame the pair for trying to make bigger bucks against Williams on HBO.
I feel like it's worth noting that if Williams had agreed to fight Pawel Wolak, we wouldn't even be here.
Of the two, which matchup do you prefer? Last time we did one of these Paul Williams vs ? polls, the majority voted "Not really interested in either" instead of Ishida or Latimore. So I'll include that option again.