Erislandy “The American Dream” Lara will face Delvin Rodriguez in a 12-round welterweight bout on June 12th from the UIC Pavilion in Chicago on PBC on Spike TV.
Lara (20-2-2, 12 KO’s) is defending his WBA World super welterweight title against Rodriguez (28-7-4, 16 KO’s). It is seemingly a generous gesture from Lara, as Rodriguez hasn’t won a fight since beating Freddy Hernandez in 2013.
Rodriguez lost to Miguel Cotto later that year and had a unconvincing draw with Joachim Alcine in May of 2014. He is best known for his fight of the year candidate with Pawell Wolak in July 2011,but has not garnered a title shot through his recent efforts, but here he is with that shot.
Lara was last seen in December dismissing the best version of Ishe Smith the public has probably seen since the Contender show. He has a ton of experience fighting championship caliber fighters with wins against the likes of Alfredo Angulo and Austin Trout, as well as tough losses to Paul Williams and Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.
Although losing on the cards against Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez, some believed Lara to be the victor, a similar case in the Paul Williams fight.
With that being said, Lara is a huge favorite in this fight using the Cuban Style, the art of hitting and not getting hit.
Rodriguez will have to push the pressure on Lara to have any success in this fight. If he doesn’t, this has a chance of being a bore, especially if Lara is pop shotting all night.
It’s much easier said than done against the Cuban Style, just ask Ishe Smith; who put tons of pressure, but could not escape Lara’s sharp crosses.
This is a stay-busy type fight so he can get one of the many fighters he has called out. Those fighters include Gennady Golovkin and Keith Thurman.
Check out the fight on June 12th on another good PBC card, which also features light-heavyweight boogieman Artur Beterbiev going against replacement for Doudou Ngumbu, Alexander Johnson.
