Bob Santos, the trainer of Erislandy Lara, has rejected any notion that the Cuban veteran is contemplating retirement now he’s 41 years old.
The WBA middleweight beltholder recorded a ninth-round stoppage of Danny Garcia last September, leaving the former welterweight titlist’s future in the balance.
Lara, a stellar professional since 2008, is not contemplating walking away, however.
“Why should he retire?” Santos exclaimed during an interview with BoxingScene’s Bernard Neequaye. “He’s the middleweight champ of the world. He’s won how many fights in a row? He beat Danny Garcia. He knocked out the Australian [Michael Zerafa] in one or two rounds. Name anybody that has dominated Erislandy Lara. So why should he retire?”
Santos makes a good point. Each blot on Lara’s 31-3-3 (19 KOs) can be described as contentious. The losses came over the distance to Paul Williams, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Jarrett Hurd – and the judges couldn’t agree on the outcome in any of them.
“Nobody has ever dominated him,” Santos continued. “With the Canelo fight, many people think he won. The Hurd bout was the fight of the year and could’ve gone either way. So, name any time that Erislandy has lost that he’s been dominated?
“And in his last couple performances, he’s performed incredibly and he’s the middleweight champ in the world. Why should he retire? He knocked the guy out and Danny Garcia had never been stopped in his career. He got stopped that night.”
Chris Eubank Jnr is a potential challenger for the Cuban, but with a showdown with Conor Benn expected to soon be confirmed for the Briton, Lara is weighing up his options before announcing his next move.
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