ERISLANDY LARA VS. FREDDY HERNANDEZ PREVIEW: THE CUBAN CONQUEROR RETURNS
By: UK Boxing Writer Jai Singh
This Saturday, June 30th at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, Calif. the feared and much avoided Erislandy Lara (16-1-1, 11 KO’s) takes on top Junior Middleweight contender Freddy Hernandez (30-2, 20 KO’s) on the Cornelius ‘K9’ Bundrage vs. Cory Spinks II undercard in a fight scheduled for 10 rounds. The 29-year old ‘2005 Amateur World Champion’ hasn’t always had the same hype surrounding him as his fellow Cuban expatriates such as Yuriorkis Gamboa – as it wasn’t until Lara’s stunning performance against former two division world champion Paul ‘The Punisher’ Williams (41-2, 27 KO’s) that the boxing world started to really take notice of the powerful Southpaw.
Ever since putting on the dominating left handed boxing clinic last year in which Williams was wrongly given the victory in one of boxings worst case of corruption in recent memory, he has since found it near impossible to secure another meaningful fight.
His opponent, Freddy Hernandez who hails from Mexico City & is coming off an impressive victory against former world champion Luis Collazo (31-5, 16 KO’s). Not many gave him a chance of winning but he fought hard and prevailed, and is determined to upset the odds all over again vs. his highly rated Cuban foe this weekend.
Hernandez promises to go to war with Lara, and push him to limits he’s never experienced.
“I’m going to make this a rough fight for Lara,” Hernandez said. “I was scheduled to fight Yudel Jhonson (12-1, 8 KOs) recently but had to pull out because of a minor injury. I’m in great shape and will be 100 percent ready to go this Saturday.”
“Don’t count Freddy out,” his promoter, Gary Shaw said.
“Everyone has Lara as the favorite to win this fight, but Hernandez is a hungry fighter who just pulled off an upset against Colllazo. Everyone knows Mexican fighters leave everything in the ring and Freddy has upset on his mind. The fans are going to see a great fight when these two warriors step in the ring.”
The talk of Lara facing off against WBC Junior Middleweight Champion, Saul Alvarez (40-0-1, 29 KO’s) this September has also made Hernandez feel disrespected as he feels he(Lara) is looking past him.
“Lara keeps talking about a potential fight with Canelo, but he’s forgetting that he must get past me first,” Hernandez said.
“Victor Ortiz found out the hard way that you can’t look past anyone at the top level and I’m going to show Lara what a real Mexican fighter is all about. The Mexican fans will see a hungry fighter when we step in the ring this Saturday. It’s going to be a war!”
Erislandy Lara on the other hand is predicting a quick knockout victory.
“If I go out there and do what I did to Ronald Hearns, nobody is going to want to fight me. Freddy Hernandez is a very good fighter. I’m prepared for anything he’s going to bring, but he needs to be worried about what I plan to bring. I’m not frustrated that fighters avoid me. I just have to keep working hard and taking care of the fighters my promoter puts in front of me. These guys can run but they can’t hide.”
The outspoken Cuban also briefly spoke on Saul Alvarez & the other names in the red hot division ignoring him as a potential opponent.
“I think that I deserve the (Alvarez) fight. I fought my eliminator against Hearns and I was supposed to fight Vanes Martirosyan, and he ended up turning down the fight. Alvarez is supposed to be looking for the next available contender, and they’re not able to secure anybody. I’m the No. 1 guy, and then, I get dropped to No. 3 by the Mexican-based WBC.
I just think that it’s a big plot to keep me from being Canelo’s next possible opponent and to keep me as far away as they can from him. I think that my own promoter should mention my name, but they act like I don’t exist. I don’t feel that I’m being treated the right way.”
The fight will be televised live on ShoBox: The New Generation on SHOWTIME at 9 p.m. ET/PT as part of their tripleheader, featuring IBF Junior Middleweight World Champion Cornelius “K9” Bundrage defending against Cory “Next Generation” Spinks and Gary Russell Jr. against Christopher Perez.
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Good article. I’m thinking Floyd could make a big statement by coming out of jail and facing Lara in November at 154.