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Junior middleweight titleholder Erislandy Lara is setting his sights high for his next fight, saying that his first choice is to move up to middleweight and face WBC/WBA/IBF titleholder Gennady Golovkin, with his second choice being a rematch of his 2014 fight with Canelo Alvarez.
If he can't get either of them in the ring, he'll aim to make history at 154 pounds.
"I'm ready to step up and fight anyone in my division, or if a big fight can be made at middleweight I'm willing to be great (by moving up in weight). My first choice is to fight GGG. My next choice would be to have a rematch with Canelo. If either fight can't be made, then my focus will be to put my name in the record books. All the fights at this level are tough so to break the record for most consecutive title defenses at (junior middleweight) would be unbelievable."
Lara (23-2-2, 13 KO) defeated Vanes Martirosyan last Saturday night in a Showtime main event, successfully defending the WBA 154-pound title. He faced Alvarez in 2014 and lost a split decision, and has been talking about fighting Golovkin for a bit now.
The biggest problems for the 33-year-old Cuban is not his association with Al Haymon, who seems willing to make deals with anyone if the deals are right, but the simple facts that (1) he's very good, (2) he's not exciting, and (3) he's not a draw. That's a recipe for having a tough time finding fights. It was something of a surprise when Alvarez fought him in 2014, and Alvarez is now at a point, star-wise, where neither he nor his promoters seem as keen on taking the big risks as they used to, which was probably natural.
As for the Golovkin fight, I know you may believe that I sort of poo-pooed that idea on Monday's podcast, but like I said then, it's not that I don't think it's a perfectly reasonable fight to make, it's just that I, myself, don't see Lara being the big threat to GGG that some do. Still, I'd rather find out than not, particularly if Canelo isn't going to fight Golovkin in September. It's certainly a more interesting idea than, say, Avtandil Khurtsidze, a fighter I like watching way more than I like watching Lara, but I would say is really no threat whatsoever to Golovkin. I'm willing to believe I may just be wrong about Lara, who is a class fighter. I'm 1000% confident I am not wrong about Khurtsidze.