Erislandy Lara vs. Yuri Foreman

Well, I wouldn't classify Dorticos, Gamboa and even Barthélemy (who, in my opinion, has an interesting and inusual style to watch) as boring fighters, especially considering that Yunier was recently involved in a war of attrition with Kalenga and that Yuriorkis made fireworks in 2014 in cooperation with Crawford.

 

i cant wait

the anxiety is killing me

 

After Lara's masterful and very Whitaker-ese performance over canelo, the division has turned their backs and ran from Lara. Unbelievable.
Where is boo boo at? That n i g g a straight disappeared.

 

Lara performed well against Canelo, gave Canelo one of his hardest fights, but lets not get crazy calling that Whitaker-esque LOL.

As far as the division turned their backs, yeah pretty much, no one wants to fight this guy. Except for this man Yuri Foreman. Kudos to YF for stepping up and taking on such an avoided fighter like Lara when no one else will.

 

Lara has been quoted as saying "I feel motivation to make it an early slugfest type of knockout." He added "I've proven I'm one of the best, and I've been active fighting the best competition that will step in the ring with me."

Sounds like we could see a more aggressive Lara in this fight trying to get Foreman out of there early. Do you think that's a good strategy against Foreman, or would you expect Lara to engage in more of a chess match? We know Lara is capable of fighting either style. Against Zaveck for example he started out in more of that type of a slugfest style and had success with it.

 

I'm getting Rogo flashbacks here. "Next fight I will be exciting. Really!"
But in this case, I actually expect Lara to get him out early. Not due to Lara being much more agressive, but rather that current Yuri would be to static and easy to hit for someone as mobile and accurate as Lara.

 

Never been a fan of Lara he runs to much

Makes sense when you think about it, only the fast runner Make it out of Cuba

He runs so fast around the ring I'm half convinced he thinks Castro is chasing him with a net

 

Yuri has got this. Underestimate the Foreman Funder at your peril

 

So you're betting that YF's mobility will not be what it was in 2009-2010 (before he slipped vs Cotto and injured the knee)?

I know Foreman had a ton of speed vs Santos allowing him to win that fight comfortably. Santos was a decent fighter who actually beat Antonio Margarito in 2004. He fought Margarito twice the first being a no-contest in 2001, both in Puerto Rico. his loss to Foreman was the last fight of his career. Vs Cotto, YF slipped on one the ring logos late in the 4th round, which slowed him down, but he was still boxing OK after that until the knee completely gave out a few rounds later. One thing that may be noteworthy is that even before the injury vs Cotto, Foreman wore a knee pad and I remember him saying in the post fight that he basically re-injured what was an old injury.

In the one in-ring clip I found of him fighting in 2013, he wasn't wearing any knee pad and seemed to have good mobility (and this was over 3 years ago). It's possible that the knee surgery he got between 2011-2013 may have repaired what was a lingering problem that existed before the Cotto bout. If he's not fighting with a knee pad anymore then he may not have the mobility problem that contributed to his two losses.

If you’re banking on YF being static, well that’s not the fighter I remembered. His speed was like a herky jerky left right movement that made it hard for opponents to cut off the ring and land anything on him.

If he’s not wearing a brace anymore and has confidence in his knee, he’s not a static fighter. If he doesn’t have mobility and is static with knee problems, Lara is going to win this easily. But if YF has his usual style and speed, I would expect it to be more of a high speed chess match like his fight vs Cotto rather than a slug fest. YF’s advantages are his speed and elusiveness, he’s not going to win a slug fest. However, Lara has the ability to adapt once he gets used to Foreman’s rhythm, he’s shown he can slug it out or be a counter punch / boxer puncher. I doubt he will prepare only for a slugfest. The only way I can see that is if Foreman is bothered by the knee.