By Daniel Gonzalez

Minneapolis, Minn – The 36 year old Cuban southpaw, Erislandy “The American Dream” Lara (26-3-3, 15 KOs), dominated and stopped the sluggish Ramon Alvarez (28-8-3, 16 KOs) in the 2nd round to capture the vacant WBA Super Welterweight world title Saturday night at the Minneapolis Armory.  The clash which headlined the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) fight card that was televised on Fox Sports was the least competitive of the featured bouts.  Alvarez, who is the older brother of middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez never seemed prepared for this fight.  He came into the weigh in more than 4 pounds over the contracted 154lb limit and seemed to be a few steps slower than Lara, who weighed in at a trim and ready 153.5.

Although, this title is secondary, the win puts Lara right back in the mix of the division that he has always been a player in during his 11 year professional career.  He was clearly a class above Alvarez and made easy work of him before referee Mark Nelson was forced to stop the bout almost at the exact moment that Alvarez’s corner threw in the towel.  Even though Lara claimed that he felt the extra weight that Alvarez had on him in his statement to Fox’s Heidi Androl, it certainly did not seem that way.

Lara, who has consistently been on the losing end of controversial decisions, seems to still have a chip on his shoulder and seems poised to take on the best competition.  There is no question that he remains one of the most skilled boxers in the sport.  Lara was clear in stating that he would like a rematch with Canelo, as he still believes he won their 2014 fight.  Lara also mentioned Errol Spence Jr. as someone he would be interested in matching up with in the near future.

In his post fight interview Lara stated, “I’ll fight anybody in the division..if it has to be a rematch with someone like (Jarrett Hurd or Brian Castaño), I don’t mind doing those fights again but I’d rather fight the very best in my division or near my division.”  Matchups with the winner of Jermell Charlo and Tony Harrison or a clash with the current super middleweight WBA super champ, Julian WIlliams would all be interesting matchups for the “American Dream.”

Daniel Gonzalez is a Senior Boxing Writer. Dan writes for many publications including Boxing Action Magazine, www.BoxingAction24.com and www.SideStepBoxing.com

Photo courtesy of Stephanie Trapp / Fox Sports