Mauricio Lara vs. Edwing Davila set for January 31 in Mexico City

Mauricio Lara will headline for the second straight time in front of his home crowd in Mexico City, taking on Edwing Davila on January 31, according to Bxstars Promotions.

This is Lara’s third fight since he came in massively overweight for his May 2023 rematch with Leigh Wood. Lara dropped the WBA featherweight title at the scales and proceeded to lose the fight by a wide unanimous decision.

Since then, Lara struggled in a February 2024 draw with the 27-2 Daniel Lugo and scored a seventh-round technical knockout of the 11-12-1 Pedro Alejandro Delgado in August. Lara is now 27-3-2 (20 KOs).

That is quite a fall from grace for the 26-year-old, who made a splash in the featherweight division when he stopped Josh Warrington in February 2021. A rematch with Warrington later that year ended as a technical draw after just two rounds due to Lara suffering a cut from a clash of heads.

Lara picked up two wins in 2022, then kicked off 2023 with a seventh-round TKO of Wood. Lara was behind on the scorecards when he dropped Wood, whose corner threw in the towel. 

But Lara came in at nearly 130lbs for the rematch. And he’s been fighting at or around junior lightweight since; that is where this bout with Davila will take place, per the promoter.

Davila, 21-2 (11 KOs), is a 30-year-old from Aguascalientes, Mexico. Both of his defeats came against prospects: he was stopped in nine by the 14-0 Maidin Elgarni in 2019 and outpointed by the 8-0 Jesus Saracho in 2021. Davila has won three consecutive bouts since, all against pedestrian opposition.

The undercard will feature Rogelio Romero, a cruiserweight prospect who competed as a light heavyweight for Mexico in the 2020/2021 Olympics. Romero made it to the quarterfinals before being shut out by eventual gold medalist Arlen Lopez of Cuba.

As a pro, Romero fought in November, making quick work of Edgar Gonzalez Ramos. Romero’s record is either 1-0 (1 KO), or 2-0 (1 KO) if you include a pro bout from April sanctioned by the IBA.