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Erislandy Lara and Austin Trout will meet on Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn for the vacant WBA "regular" junior middleweight title, a belt that Trout held prior to his loss earlier this year to Canelo Alvarez. While Trout has held a world title once, Lara is still searching for his first, and the Cuban southpaw is full of confidence heading into the fight.
There's been a lot of trash talk already between the two, which few expect to turn into an exciting fight between a pair of guys who box first. But Lara (18-1-2, 12 KO) says he's tired of the talk, which is all he thinks that Trout (26-1, 14 KO) brings to the table."My training went well and I'm ready to go. Trout talks too much. He's all talk and no show," Lara said yesterday at a media workout.
Noted for a robbery loss to Paul Williams in 2011 that was so bad even a state commission had to step up and suspend the judges, Lara fought Vanes Martirosyan to a technical draw last November on HBO, in a fight that was supposed to lead to a WBC title shot.
This year, Lara has fought just once, a career-best victory over Alfredo Angulo, stopping the rugged Mexican in the 10th round, and showing enough determination to get off the canvas in rounds four and nine en route to the win.
"I'm a solid fighter with skills and I'm at the top of my division," he said. "On Saturday night it will be the better boxer, better puncher and more intelligent fighter."
Among the noteworthy back-and-forth, Trout said this week that Lara lacks the heart and will to win the fight on Saturday.
"We are going to see who has the bigger heart and bigger balls," Lara said yesterday in reply.