It's been more than half a year since Erislandy Lara last fought in the ring, but the former world champion is getting ready to return for another title fight.
A report from ESPN's Dan Rafael states that Lara will fight WBA "regular" junior middleweight titleholder Brian Castano sometime in early 2019. The fight would take place on a Premier Boxing Champions card though the report did not specify which of the PBC cards already announced for next year would be.
This would be Lara's first fight since losing his WBA "super" junior middleweight title to Jarrett Hurd in a unification fight that took place in Las Vegas this past April on a Showtime-televised card. Lara was knocked down in the 12th round and would go on to lose a split decision, ending his WBA title reign that started in 2014 when he won the WBA "regular" title himself and then elevated to "super" champion in 2016.
Castano has held the WBA's secondary world title at 154 pounds since 2017. Castano was the interim WBA champion but when Demetrius Andrade vacated the "regular" title to move up in weight, Castano was elevated from interim titleholder to "regular" champion. Castano successfully defended his new version of the title this past March when he stopped Cedric Vitu in the 12th round in a boxing card in Paris.
PBC unveiled its TV schedule for FOX and FOX Sports 1 for the first few months of 2019 and that can be seen at this link.
