Boxing’s oldest world champion, Erislandy Lara, retained his WBA middleweight title against Danny Garcia in a grueling fight on Saturday night.
Garcia was returning to the ring for the first time since his majority decision victory over Jose Benavidez Jr in July 2022.
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The 36-year-old has been chronically inactive, with just two fights in the last four years, and it showed.
Garcia looked very rusty in the ring and was forced to take down several times by Lara, who fought a disciplined fight on the outside, behind his jab.
In the fourth round, Garcia landed just one punch, in a completely unbeatable fight that left Lara barely breaking a sweat.
A cacophony of boos began to echo around the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas as the low-intensity fight failed to impress the packed crowd.
Garcia never looked confident in his work and seemed hesitant to let his hands go as Lara dodged her opponent’s half-hearted attacks and bombarded him with accurate blows.
It wasn’t a case of Lara looking good. In fact, he showed his age at times.
Furthermore, it was a fight defined by Garcia’s unwillingness to get involved.
In the ninth round, Garcia was kneed after receiving a left hook late in the round and was taken down by his corner as he walked back to his bench.
Chris Mannix summed up the fight perfectly on commentary: “The middleweight division is terrible right now, but this fight was somehow worse.”
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