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Mike Coppinger, ESPN Boxing Insider
Erislandy Lara will defend his WBA middleweight title against Danny Garcia on Sept. 14 in Las Vegas, PBC announced Thursday.
The fight will serve as the pay-per-view cofeature on the Canelo Alvarez-Edgar Berlanga card.
Lara-Garcia was originally slated for August 2023 and then was slated for the fall. However, the bout never materialized as PBC network partner Showtime ceased sports programming at the end of the year.
When the fight was planned last year, it was set to take place at a 155-pound catchweight.
Lara (30-3-3, 18 KOs) is coming off a second-round TKO victory over Michael Zerafa in March. A former 154-pound champion, Lara’s résumé includes a controversial decision loss to Paul Williams, a split-decision defeat to Alvarez and a victory over Austin Trout.
Lara is ESPN’s No. 6 middleweight. The 41-year-old Cuban’s split-decision defeat to Jarrett Hurd in a 154-pound title unification was ESPN’s 2018 Fight of the Year. Lara’s draw with Brian Castano the following year was one of the best fights of 2019.
Garcia (37-3, 21 KOs) is a former unified 140-pound champion and 147-pound titleholder. He rose to prominence with an upset fourth-round TKO victory over Amir Khan in 2012 and followed with a dominant victory over Lucas Matthysse the following year.
His lengthy résumé includes wins over Erik Morales, Zab Judah and Lamont Peterson, along with tight decision defeats to Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter. The 36-year-old Philadelphian made his 154-pound debut in July 2022 with a majority decision win over Jose Benavidez Jr. He hasn’t competed since.
That was Garcia’s first fight since a December 2020 decision loss to Errol Spence Jr.