Erislandy Lara, the 41-year-old Champ, Left Wanting
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 23 Jul 2024
Age might just be a number but that statement doesn’t always provide much coverage in professional sports - or the workplace. The average retirement age around the world is 67 years old. Of course, in many sports, age doesn’t matter. "King" Kazuyoshi Miura, the oldest soccer player in the world, just signed for a new club in Japan at age 57.
Boxing, however, is different. As a combat sport, it comes with risks that other activities don’t, so the International Boxing Association (IBA) sets an upper age limit of 40. However, there are some exceptions.
Erislandy Lara
Cuban-American boxer Erislandy Lara, perhaps best known for a controversial bout with Canelo Alvarez in 2014, is 41. He’s also the current World Boxing Association (WBA) middleweight champion.
Making things stranger is that Article 1 of the WBA’s Medical and Safety Guidelines sets an upper age limit for professional boxing at 36 with a single exception - fighting in a championship match a few days over the maximum age [1].
Source: Pexels.
Lara has been a thorn in boxing’s side for a while. The pugilist has been the WBA champion since 2021 and contributed to a “sloppy”, to paraphrase PremierBoxingVault, start to 2024 by continuing an absence from boxing that began in May 2022. It wasn't entirely his fault. The WBA didn't have an opponent lined up. However, the gap between Lara's most recent fights meant that the WBA had breached their rules. Champions must defend their title within nine months.
Analysts wondered if Lara should be stripped of his title altogether. That didn’t happen and, on April 1, Lara defended his title with a KO versus Michael Zerafa. Notably, the Australian, Zerafa, was just 32. Lara turned 41 ten days later.
Bernard Hopkins
There are plenty of questions to ask. Lara is aware that he’s in the twilight - or “tail end”, to quote the man himself, of his career. “I’m fighting for my legacy", Lara said, ahead of an August match with Danny Garcia in 2023, which was cancelled as late as the first day of that month. The opinion on social media was that both men were too long in the tooth to warrant the effort of promoters. It might have been worth it as an undercard.
Whispers at the time suggested that the fight against Garcia would be Lara’s last hurrah in the ring. Whether the cancellation derailed his retirement plans, having no equivalent contest to the Canelo fight recently, is up for debate. Lara famously outclassed Thomas LaManna in 2021 when claiming the WBA title so there’s a sense that he may have come as far as he can in the sport, explaining the World Boxing Association’s recent hesitancy with the Guantanamo-born boxer.
Lara still has much to give, though, despite his age. He compares himself to retired middleweight Bernard Hopkins, who hung up his gloves eight years ago in 2016. He would've been 51 at the time. His career ended dramatically when he fell out of the ring versus Joe Smith Jr. but he'd already racked up 56 wins to eight losses and two draws by that point, making that match a footnote in a decades-long story.
Special Approval
Why is the WBA seemingly so open to abandoning its rulebook? Professional boxers at all levels are subjected to rigorous health checks so there is some care taken when allowing senior performers to fight. Indeed, Lara will have received special approval from the WBA to continue his career beyond the specified retirement date.
Source: Pexels.
To use a similar example, although, something rightly considered a farce in the boxing world, the 58-year-old Mike Tyson will fight Jake Paul under official guidelines. Put another way, it’s a sanctioned match by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation and will count to each person’s record. That’s Tyson’s 50-6 (44 KOs) and Paul's 9-1 (6 KOs). The Department’s approval makes it as valid as any other main event.
The bout attracted much attention among fans of sports betting in Canada but markets on the fight were suspended following Tyson's temporary withdrawal with a stomach ulcer. Attention has since turned to fights such as Nathan Heaney vs. Brad Pauls and Joe Joyce vs. Derek Chisora.
Erislandy Lara is nearly two decades Tyson’s junior (and in a different weight class) so it’s worth putting some distance between the two fighters. Safety concerns remain, however.
Legacy
So, what’s next for Erislandy Lara? In a word, nothing. The Cuban-American has no matches in the pipeline, which brings us right back around to Lara’s awkward relationship with the WBA. Some potential match-ups include the awaited fight against Danny Garcia, Jermall Charlo, and Brian Castano but things are moving slowly. He’s only just stepped out of the ring with Michael Zerafa.
Overall, It’s plain that Lara still wants to cement his legacy in middleweight boxing, regardless of what anybody else thinks.
[1] https://www.wbaboxing.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/WBA-Rules-11.08.2023.pdf
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