Notebook: Lara faces O'Sullivan but really wants to fight the middleweight elite

Mayer, Baumgardner to meet in women's unification bout; Wallin back in action; Quick hits; Show and tell

May 24, 2022

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Erislandy Lara, who fought just once in 2020 and once in 2021, will end a nearly 13-month layoff to defend his WBA “regular” middleweight belt for the first time against big underdog Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan in the co-feature of the Gervonta Davis-Rolando Romero fight on Saturday (Showtime PPV and PPV.com, 9 p.m. ET, $74.99) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

For several years Lara was one of the best junior middleweights in the world and a longtime titleholder before moving up to middleweight in his last fight last May. That is when he blitzed the thoroughly overmatched Thomas LaManna, knocking him out in the first round to claim the vacant secondary belt.

Ireland’s O’Sullivan (31-4, 21 KOs), 37, is a similar level opponent, who has been stopped in three of his losses. He has lost whenever he has stepped up to face a top opponent, including to Jaime Mungia (TKO11), David Lemieux (KO1), Chris Eubank Jr. (TKO7) and Billy Joe Saunders (L12). That is why Lara is a heavy favorite and eyeing the top fighters in the division should he retain his belt as expected.

“I feel strong at 160 pounds,” Lara said at his recent media day through an interpreter. “I showed that in my last fight and I’ll show it again in this fight. I’m ready to display all of my skills once again.

“Come (Saturday), when I come out victorious, I’m ready to fight the best in the division. I’m not even going to mention their names, because I’m tired of doing that. I’m just focused on getting in the ring with all the best fighters.”

Gennadiy Golovkin is a unified titleholder and owner of the IBF title and main WBA belt, although he is headed for a third fight with Canelo Alvarez at super middleweight in September. Demetrius Andrade holds the WBO title, but is sidelined with an injury and was planning to also fight at super middleweight next. Jermall Charlo, who has a title defense next month, holds the WBC belt.

“People are avoiding me at 160 pounds just like they did at 154,” Lara said. “I’m a tough matchup for anyone out there. That’s why they don’t want to fight me.”

When he faces O’Sullivan he will do so in his fourth fight at Barclays Center. It is where he has fought three junior middleweight title fights — a draw with Brian Castano in 2019 and unanimous decisions over Terrell Gausha (2017) and Austin Trout (2013).

“I’m excited to be fighting back in Brooklyn again,” Lara said. “I’ve had a lot of success in New York and it’s going to be fun being on a big PPV event like this with Gervonta Davis.”

Order Davis vs. Romero on PPV.COM

Mayer-Baumgardner unification

Mikaela Mayer, who holds the WBO and IBF women’s junior lightweight belts — and The Ring title — and WBC titleholder Alycia Baumgardner have a deal in place for a unification fight later this year, Top Rank announced.

Top Rank, which has promoted Mayer for her entire career, made a deal with Baumgardner promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing for the fight, which it said will take place on an ESPN platform in the late summer or early fall. The venue is also to be determined.

It’s a fight both women have said they wanted after jousting with each other on social media.

“Mikaela Mayer’s prodigious talent is only matched by her tremendous ambition,” Top Rank chairman Bob Arum said. “She wants the biggest fights, and Alycia Baumgardner is a worthy champion. This is a huge event and one of the most anticipated matchups in women’s boxing.”

Mayer (17-0, 5 KOs), 31, a 2016 U.S. Olympian from Los Angeles, unified 130-pound belts and claimed the vacant Ring title in November via decision over Maiva Hamadouche in the consensus women’s fight of the year. On April 9, Mayer returned and routed Jessica Han in a title defense.

Baumgardner (12-1, 7 KOs), 28, of Bingham Farms, Michigan, knocked out Terri Harper in the fourth round of to win the WBC belt a week after Mayer-Hamadouche and then made her first defense by shutout decision over Edith Soledad Matthysse on April 16.

Wallin in action

Heavyweight contender Otto Wallin (23-1, 14 KOs), 31, a southpaw from Sweden, whose only loss was a competitive decision to Tyson Fury in Las Vegas in September 2019, will go for his fourth win in a row since on Thursday night.

With a big fight not available to him at the moment, Wallin will stay busy against veteran Rydell Booker (26-5-1, 13 KOs), 41, of Detroit, in 10-rounder in the main event of the Salita Promotions card at Ford Community & Performing Arts Center in Dearborn, Michigan.

“I always enter the ring knowing I’ve done all I can in training and that brings me confidence to perform at my best and makes me willing to do what it takes to win,” Wallin said. “My preparations for fights, both physically and mentally, are always 100 percent. This fight doesn’t have the magnitude that I’ve been hoping for, but it’s great for me to be active. I need that to keep developing and to be ready when the bigger fights come.

“Booker is a well-schooled boxer and a skillful one and anything can happen in heavyweight boxing, so I cannot underestimate him. I expect me to be the busier guy with Booker trying to counter my shots. I’m ready for whatever he will bring.”

Quick hits

WBC bantamweight titlist Nonito Donaire (42-6, 28 KOs), 39, a Philippines native fighting out of Las Vegas, arrived in Japan on Sunday ahead of his rematch and three-belt unification fight with IBF/WBA champion Naoya Inoue. They meet June 7 (ESPN+, 5 a.m. ET) at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, about a half hour outside of Tokyo. It’s the same site as their 2019 fight of the year that three-division champion Inoue (22-0, 19 KOs), 29, of Japan, won by hard-fought decision. “If Naoya thinks ‘Donaire is same as in our first encounter, that’s wrong,’” four-division champion Donaire told media upon his arrival. “I’m quite different as I can punch him from any angle in any position now. My skills and motivation have improved a lot. You’ll see.”

As part of the WBO’s decision to sanction the interim middleweight title bout between Janibek Alimkhanuly and Danny Dignum, which Alimkhanuly won by huge second-round knockout on Saturday at Resorts World Las Vegas, it said the winner and WBO full titleholder Demetrius Andrade have 180 days to meet in the mandatory fight. The WBO also said that 60 days after the fight – on July 20 – it will order a 30-day free negotiation period and then, if necessary, a purse bid. Further, the WBO said that if Andrade, who is sidelined for about four months with a shoulder injury (which forced him to cancel a WBO interim super middleweight title fight), “is not medically and physically ready, willing, and able to fight within the term provided” he will be stripped and Alimkhanuly will be elevated to full titleholder. It is unlikely Andrade, injured or not, was going to return to middleweight for the mandatory defense, so it appears to only be a matter of time until Alimkhanuly is elevated.

Brooklyn, New York, heavyweight Adam Kownacki (20-2, 15 KOs), 33, who is looking to rebound from back-to-back knockout losses to Robert Helenius, has a seven-figure offer on the table from Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn to fight England’s Dereck Chisora (32-12, 23 KOs), 38, on July 9 in London. But Kownacki also may stay with Premier Boxing Champions for a summer fight. Keith Connolly, Kownacki’s manager, does Business with both Hearn and PBC’s Al Haymon, so it remains to be seen which direction they will go in.

The IBF’s 37th convention begins Tuesday and ends Saturday in Long Beach, California, after having been postponed twice due to Covid-19. “We are enthusiastic about the week ahead, and once again getting together with our members and colleagues in the boxing community,” IBF president Daryl Peoples said. “Three years have passed since our last convention which took place in Macau, China, and we are excited that this convention is taking place in the United States and has brought us to the West Coast.” Among the activities will be to hand out the annual awards. The Jersey Joe Walcott Award, the IBF’s highest honor, goes to lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr. for his title win over Teofimo Lopez in November. The female fighter of the year award goes to Costa Rica’s Yokasta Valle, who holds the strawweight title and made three defenses in 2021. Fight of the year awards go to Lopez-Kambosos (men) and Mikaela Mayer-Maiva Hamadouche (women).

Former junior bantamweight world title challenger Antonio Nieves (20-3-2, 11 KOs), 34, of Cleveland, ended a 2½ layoff with a unanimous eight-round decision over the Philippines’ Judy Flores (10-1, 6 KOs), 23, on Saturday in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Nieves scored a sixth-round knockdown with a left to the body and won 80-71, 80-72, 80-72. “I’m pleased with my performance and happy to shake off the ring rust,” said Nieves, whose world title shot ended in a sixth-round knockout to Naoya Inoue in 2017. “I’m hoping to land a big fight before the summer ends. I’m coming back for a top spot in the division. I’m right back in the gym this week.”

Show and tell

The late, great Marvelous Marvin Hagler, one of the 1980s “Four Kings” along with Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran and Thomas Hearns, was one of the all-time greatest fighters in boxing history and one of the most respected champions ever. He fought from 1973 to 1987 and came up the hard way by fighting every tough opponent thrown his way before finally finding glory and popularity late in his career. He won the unified middleweight title in 1980 by knocking out Alan Minter in the third round in London and made 12 successful defenses, including against Duran and by knockout of Hearns in their seminal 1985 classic slugfest. He lost the title by disputed split decision in a true mega fight with Leonard in 1987 and retired, never to be lured back to the ring. Hagler, who died in 2021, would have turned 68 on May 23 (Monday).

One of the most memorable times of my career was getting the opportunity to hang out with Hagler for a few days in Las Vegas in 2007. Brian Kenny and I were covering the Bernard Hopkins-Winky Wright HBO PPV fight for SportsCenter and ESPN hired Hagler to work with us as a special guest analyst during fight week at Mandalay Bay. So, I had the chance to spend time with Hagler — who was a big Hopkins and vice versa — and hear some of his stories and talk a lot of boxing. He was gracious, funny and could not have been nicer to us. I regret not taking a photo with him.

In honor of Hagler’s birthday, here is one of my favorite cards in my collection. It is a sticker from the 1986-87 Panini multi-sport set produced for the United Kingdom that Hagler shares with Mike Tyson. The set contains two Tyson rookies, his stand-alone sticker and the combo one with Hagler. The Tyson/Hager sticker is quite scarce because it is only in the U.K. set and not also part of the more common Italian version of the set like the other boxer stickers. And even if you can find one they are really hard to acquire in high grade because it’s a highly condition-sensitive foil sticker. The one I have is graded in mint 9 condition by PSA, the highest grade available of this particular sticker. PSA has only graded a total of 45 of them with only eight at the 9 level and none at the gem mint 10 level.

Lara photo: Sean Michael Ham/Mayweather Promotions; Mayer photo: Mikey Williams/Top Rank; Wallin photo: Amanda Westcott/Showtime; Donaire photo: Naoki Fukuda

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