Regardless of How you Feel About his Style, Erislandy Lara Should Have been the 9/12

[Redeaux]

I'm a huge Lara homer, but Lara himself is the one to blame for missing out on these opportunities.

For better or worse, boxing isn't just about getting the W, nor is it just about what you do in the ring. You have to entertain, draw a crowd, win the respect of the people. Lara doesn't do that, he's far too stubborn with his ways and refuses to ever hit the accelerator.

Your reputation is already mocked by fans, and people six rounds in are crying for you to KO Delvin Rodriguez, yet nothing happens, cruise control kicks in, it's infuriating.

[Eff Pandas]

Silly ass thread. I love Lara & his style, but he did nothing to get a Mayweather fight. Hell he's not even in the same division Mayweather has been fighting in. And the times Mayweather has fought at 154 its been big name cats (Oscar, Miguel & Canelo). with 2 of those 3 fights holding the record for most sales & most revenue generated by a PPV. I dig the **** outta Lara & I think Lara's style would pose problems for Mayweather, but he's not on that level for his weight.

Lara needed to be born Mexican & a 147lber & than maybe he coulda got his shot at Mayweather earlier or as Mayweather's alleged last who gives a damn level opponent.

[-PBP-]

I would have been much happier with Lara, GGG, Thurman or Bradley.

Of course Bertorollin aka PBP you make a great point about all the posters that use "excitement" to justify mismatches.

How quickly they changed their tune,

That would require them to be consistent. If excitement is what they crave over competitive matches then they should have no problem with this.

Bradley and GGG would be great but aren't realistic. Thurman is in the bucket with Khan and those other guys to me. They have press releases coming out every day begging Floyd for a fight but are doing nothing to earn it. Thurman should be in Haymon's office every day demanding Brook, Khan or Porter.

Silly ass thread. I love Lara & his style, but he did nothing to get a Mayweather fight. Hell he's not even in the same division Mayweather has been fighting in. And the times Mayweather has fought at 154 its been big name cats (Oscar, Miguel & Canelo). with 2 of those 3 fights holding the record for most sales & most revenue generated by a PPV. I dig the **** outta Lara & I think Lara's style would pose problems for Mayweather, but he's not on that level for his weight.

Lara needed to be born Mexican & a 147lber & than maybe he coulda got his shot at Mayweather earlier or as Mayweather's alleged last who gives a damn level opponent.

I don't care about styles. That's a whole different topic. This is about actually trying to fight the best and the only two that have proven to do that from 147 to 154 are Lara and Floyd.

[NEETzsche]

This isn't a shot at Floyd. This is a shot at Khan, Thurman, Brook and Porter. I'd rather Berto get it than any of them.

Lara fought 4 fighters who were top 5 154 pounders at the time he fought them: Trout, Canelo, Molina and Williams. These welterweights haven't faced one top 5 opponent between the 4 of them. I guess Porter/Broom is the only one.

the fact remains that lara had his shot at the big time - against an opponent mayweather already beat handily btw - and he blew it. if he had won that fight then he would be a viable mayweather opponent right now, but he didn't, so he isn't. he needs to reassert his status as a top lmw before he can entertain thoughts of another mega fight. charlo or andrade would be perfect (and excellent chess matches, if that's what you're looking for)

brook "deserves" the mayweather fight because he's a world titlist in mayweather's primary division. i'd agree that thurman, khan and garcia need at least one big win at welterweight before they can demand a mayweather fight. hopefully they are forced to fight each other in some combination now that mayweather may be retiring

welterweight has had the same problem as heavyweight in recent years with contenders preferring to queue up and patiently wait until the champ has no choice but to give them a shot, rather than attempting to force his hand by eliminating the competition; i guess they feel like it's a shortcut to a legacy. it seems to be a recurring problem in divisions where the champ is so far ahead of the competition in terms of ability and status. the sanctioning bodies really ought to set more mandatory elimination fights (everything wrong with boxing today always ultimately comes back to the sanctioning bodies)

[MDPopescu]

... Lara played possum against Canelo.........................

[The Big Dunn]

That would require them to be consistent. If excitement is what they crave over competitive matches then they should have no problem with this.

Bradley and GGG would be great but aren't realistic. Thurman is in the bucket with Khan and those other guys to me. They have press releases coming out every day begging Floyd for a fight but are doing nothing to earn it. Thurman should be in Haymon's office every day demanding Brook, Khan or Porter.



I don't care about styles. That's a whole different topic. This is about actually trying to fight the best and the only two that have proven to do that from 147 to 154 are Lara and Floyd.

I honestly believe the Bradley fight could've been made if Floyd wanted to make it. But he isn't going to give him the payday over one of Haymon's other WW's.

Floyd/Bradley with Thurman/Brook on the undercard would make the most sense. or Floyd/Lara with Thurman/Brook or Porter/Khan.

[-PBP-]

the fact remains that lara had his shot at the big time - against an opponent mayweather already beat handily btw - and he blew it. if he had won that fight then he would be a viable mayweather opponent right now, but he didn't, so he isn't. he needs to reassert his status as a top lmw before he can entertain thoughts of another mega fight. charlo or andrade would be perfect (and excellent chess matches, if that's what you're looking for)

Why does that only apply to Lara? The other fighters are too scared take their shot at the big time and are playing it safe by fighting bums. If they fought Lara's resume they would be Berto status right now.

[NEETzsche]

Why does that only apply to Lara? The other fighters are too scared take their shot at the big time and are playing it safe by fighting bums. If they fought Lara's resume they would be Berto status right now.

with the exception of this berto fight, floyd has always picked fighters coming off the back of significant wins. he waits for the wheat to separate itself from the chaff and then swoops in and harvests. right now lara is chaff status - and floyd already beat the guy who beat him. so why the hell would he waste his time with lara? if floyd was going to fight a legit opponent in september, the obvious choices were bradley and brook

you're correct that khan and thurman don't deserve the fight right now - and they didn't get it, so what's the problem? i think that they now realise that they can't put their careers on hold any longer and that we'll see them in some good fights soon. i'm anticipating khan-garcia ii and thurman-porter or khan-thurman and garcia-porter. i don't see khan making it past garcia or thurman, so i guess that brook's big fight in 2016 will be against bradley

[-PBP-]

with the exception of this berto fight, floyd has always picked fighters coming off the back of significant wins. he waits for the wheat to separate itself from the chaff and then swoops in and harvests. right now lara is chaff status - and floyd already beat the guy who beat him. so why the hell would he waste his time with lara? if floyd was going to fight a legit opponent in september, the obvious choices were bradley and brook

you're correct that khan and thurman don't deserve the fight right now - and they didn't get it, so what's the problem? i think that they now realise that they can't put their careers on hold any longer and that we'll see them in some good fights soon. i'm anticipating khan-garcia ii and thurman-porter or khan-thurman and garcia-porter. i don't see khan making it past garcia or thurman, so i guess that brook's big fight in 2016 will be against bradley

Brook or Bradley haven't had significant wins in over a year either. Bradley and Lara are deserving because of their total body of work and their willingness to take risks. I didn't mention Bradley because the fight is not realistic.

Your argument that Brook is an IBF champion is no different than Lara being Floyd's WBA mando at 154.