Erislandy Lara vs. Delvin Rodriguez

So, uh, this is happening.

On Friday, on Spike TV.

...and there hasn't been a single thread made on it. :blood

This isn't the best match-up out there, I get it - but this is a WBA 154lb title match involving someone whose name gets thrown around on here on a daily basis - and, making it at least vaguely interesting, he gets to use this opponent for a measuring stick for himself against Cotto, who recently destroyed the guy.

It seems a bit hoary to reduce it to "Cotto leftovers vs. Canelo leftovers" (especially since, in the eyes of some of us, Canelo didn't clearly beat Lara), but that is bound to be the way this is viewed...and the implications will extend to somehow proving a vicarious "1-up" for the person with the official W over the victor here, more than anyone is going to care who the WBA junior middleweight champion is when the dust settles. Oh well. :conf C'est la vie.

As for the actual match-up - can D-Rod, given his & Lara's respective styles and given his form the last few years since moving up from welterweight (1-0-1 against Wolak, stoppages of Tahdooahnippah and Hernandez, losses to Cotto & Trout, and the draw with Alcine) hope to spring the upset here? I mean, for all that Lara is clearly elite and IMO deserved the nod against Canelo, that doesn't mean he can't be disrupted and even potentially defeated by a lesser foe who brings the right kind of determination and executes their game plan. Angulo nearly pulled it off and, well - anyone that has seen Angulo lately knows he just isn't very good anymore, not that he was ever more than a passing fair Margarito clone from the beginning. Sugar Shay Smith - widely regarded as being among the weakest titlists in recent memory (which I must reluctantly agree with, even though Shay and I are friends) was also a bit more competitive with Lara than many want to admit. :think

One more thing, which may have escaped anyone's notice given the allure of just focusing on the "will Cotto or Canelo's stock end up rising??" aspect - this pits a Cuban versus a Dominican, though both are now US-based. LOADS of bad blood between those countries, maybe not up there with Mexico vs. PR or the antihaitianismo of the DR, but among the bitterest rivalries in the Caribbean after those big ones.

 

Lara is southpaw, giving up 3" height but with 2" reach over Rodriguez.

Lara is three years his junior.

Common opponents include Austin Trout (lost a wide UD12 to Lara, taking a comfortable UD12 over Rodriguez) and Freddy Hernandez (lost a UD10 to Lara, beaten on cuts via TKO8 while down on all cards by Rodriguez)

 

I definitely agree, which is why I brought that up...but...

Yeah, my feeling as well.

Tahdoohanippah was thoroughly untested, and the only reason stopping him was impressive (since his unbeaten record was padded) was that he was so much bigger and he seems vaguely tough.

Hernandez was blitzed by Berto of all people, so no reason to get excited there.

Alcine, while very skilled and occasionally able to produce quality performances (as versus Lemieux), is way over the hill and being extremely competitive with him is really not a good look...and it showed that Cotto may have taken a lot of whatever D-Rod - a past-prime B-level (though very unlucky, robbed of some decisions that may have made him seem more like B+) career welterweight - had left.

:nod

 

This whole PBC on Spike card is actually full of mismatches, with a single exception, IMO...

Anthony Peterson vs. Ammeth Diaz - this one could surprise folks.

Peterson is by far the inferior brother, and has never been half as good as Lamont despite having the more exciting style. The gap is even more pronounced between these brothers than between the Charlo, Magdaleno, or even Hatton brothers.

Anthony is the one that was shell-shocked into pulling a Golota by Bam-Bam Ríos (prior to Ríos having a lot of his bad habits ironed out by Roberto Garcia, even - back when he was super-crude) let's remember - and of his 35 career bouts the other 34 are nothing but padding. He's a decent body puncher, but not a pimple on Lamont's ass.

Cloroformo Diaz, on the other hand, despite his much uglier record, is FAR more proven than Lamont's kid bro. His triumphs over Gethin, Zappavigna, Angulo, Beltran and Will Gonzalez absolutely blow all of AP's to smithereens.

Do not be surprised if the awkward, powerful Cloroformo makes crybaby Tony P. quit just like he did in his only ever other step up in class. :deal

 

Delvin has never been "that good" in terms of elite, or even full-on world class, but has always been on the outer fringes of world class, and if we are being 100% honest about his record it should read 34-3-2 instead of 28-7-4, as four of his losses (Eason, Hlatschwayo II, Jackiewicz & Theophane) and two of his draws (Hlatschwayo II & Wolak I) were very iffy. Feliciano and Cotto stopped him and Trout earned the only ever clear decision over him, so none of those can be questioned, and on my card Alcine edged him 96-94 but I thought a draw was perfectly fair.

Give him the deserved W's on his record over Eason, Hlatschwayo twice, Jackiewicz, Theophane, and Wolak twice and he becomes difficult to write off as being anything short of just on the outer fringes of world class.

 

See, that is my worry, that Diaz's chin fails him (and causes my prediction to look stupid) - but class tells.

We have absolutely no idea whether Anthony Peterson has legit power. As you said yourself, his competition outside Rios has been mostly garbage.

Even if he can bang, Diaz has managed to not get stopped by Gethin, Zappa, Angulo (in the rematch, though he was stopped by him in 2009)), Guzman, and Beltran - all of whom can whack a bit, so just having a bit of pop doesn't automatically guarantee you a stoppage over Diaz even though a whopping seven men have done it.

He's a survivor, he's clever, he's awkward, he boasts a whole bag of veteran tricks, and he packs enough of a punch himself to keep anyone honest and land a game-changer of his own.

 

:yep

I do think Rodriguez poses a lot of similarities to someone that gave Lara hell and fought him to what many consider a very fair draw: Vanes Martirosyan. They're both tall (in fact, Rodriguez even taller), both aggressive without being huge KO punchers but heavy-handed enough given Lara's imperfect chin, and both have the stamina and killer instinct to walk through Lara's pinpoint counters and make things rough on him.

That said, Martirosyan was in his absolute prime when he fought Lara - while Rodriguez is past his prime, above his peak weight, and probably wasn't quite as good p4p as Martirosyan even at his best.