BoxRec

The WBA’s stated desire to reduce the number of belts in play has been...inconsistently enforced, to put it kindly. They’re still making an effort, though, and ESPN reports that the sanctioning body will order “Super” super welterweight champ Erislandy Lara to face “regular” champ Brian Castano.

Lara (25-2-2, 14 KO) has feasted on the middle ranks of the division since his split decision loss to Canelo Alvarez in 2014, with Ishe Smith and Vanes Matirosyan being the most significant victories in his current six-fight streak. He was last seen winning a snoozer against Terrell Gausha.

At 34, he really needs to start fighting quality opponents sooner rather than later.

Castano (14-0, 10 KO) might or might not be one. After winning the interim belt in a back-and-forth slugfest with Emmanuel de Jesus, Castano took a massive step up against Michel Soro and won a decision on the latter’s home turf.

He was promoted to standard champion when Demetrius Andrade moved to middleweight.

It’s not Jarrett Hurd or Jermell Charlo, but I suppose there are worse fights out there for Lara, and at least this one takes a belt off the table.

So had Andrade stayed at 154, he vs. Lara would have been ordered by the WBA?

Ruthless-RKO wrote:So had Andrade stayed at 154, he vs. Lara would have been ordered by the WBA?

It probably wouldn’t have happened anyway.

Andrade is contractually tied to HBO and Lara is aligned by proxy to Showtime. Bouts between fighters from “opposing sides of the street” rarely happen, unless big money is involved… and neither Erislandy nor Demetrius are considered big draws.

Andrade probably made the jump to 160lbs, because HBO “own” at least four big names in that division (Jacobs, Lemieux, Golovkin & Canelo).

Better than Lara's last opponent I suppose, but not by much.

castano looked good beating soro in france. was the only guy to beat dercenchenyyko in wsb. ppl will call it crap because they dont know him but actually not a bad opponent.