On July 9th Cuban southpaw Erislandy Lara found himself in the biggest fight of his career in facing the tall and lanky former three-time champion Paul Williams at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. Coming off of a majority draw with Carlos Molina in Las Vegas months prior, Lara was an underdog heading into the fight but produced a very game effort as he tagged Williams repeatedly with left hands and left the South Carolina native?s face a bloody mask.
The general consensus was that the 28-year old Lara had done enough to warrant a clear decision but surprisingly he would fall on the scorecards after seeing tallies of 116-114 and 115-114 go Williams? way with judge Al Bennett calling the fight even at 114-114. In what has been regarded as one of the worst calls in recent memory, Lara saw his undefeated record go by the wayside in heartbreaking fashion.
I recently ran across Luis DeCubas Jr., manager for the now once-beaten star, and asked if there are still bitter feelings left from the robbery weeks later.
?It?s not too hard,? DeCubas stated. ?It was a terrible decision but we didn?t lose the fight; everyone knows that. Lara feels that way, I feel that way, and the people that care about him feel that way. We?re looking forward to either securing this rematch or getting something worth his while, hopefully towards the end of the year.?
In the wake of the Lara-Williams fight, the three judges who scored the bout were suspended by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board and it was said that HBO would be treating Lara as if he were the winner when eyeing future fights for the Guantanamo fighter. However, Williams? name is still in the mix for a future televised date against some meaningful names and I asked DeCubas if it would be hard to see Paul get a big fight before his man.
