A few months ago Mauricio Lara was one of boxing’s most feared fighters – a bad man with a bad reputation for destroying some of the sport’s biggest names.
The 25-year-old banger from Mexico had found worldwide fame and untold riches by first battering Josh Warrington to defeat, then stopping Leigh Wood to claim the WBA world featherweight title.
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But since then Lara’s career has gone off the rails just a little. He lost his world title on the scales when failing to make the 126lbs limit for his rematch with Wood last May. Then he lost to the Nottingham man in the ring via a wide-margin unanimous decision.
On Friday night Lara was expected to start his climb back to the top when he faced compatriot Daniel Lugo on the Curiel Nontshinga DAZN undercard in Oaxaca. Only it did not go according to plan.
Lara was lucky to escape with a draw in the eyes of most judges, and it left promoter Eddie Hearn voicing serious concerns for the future of ‘Bronco’.
Lara vs Lugo analysis
Hearn talked about the hunger and desire which had made Lara such a dangerous adversary in his rise from such difficult beginnings in life. And whether that desire is still there.
He said: “I thought he was lucky. I thought he closed the fight very well. 6-4 maybe to Lugo, and could see a draw, but it was fortunate. And he really has to go back now and look at himself and decide if this is him.
“When you’ve reached the heights of Mauricio Lara, where he came from, money can do strange things. Especially in a sport as tough as boxing.
“Marvin Hagler said it’s very difficult to get up and do your runs when you’re wearing silk pyjamas. Maurico Lara, what made him so dangerous was that he was a bad sonofabitch. Excuse my language but that’s what it was – a bad kid that came with bad intentions.
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“What I don’t like to see is touching gloves, moaning about a headbutt, moaning about holding, the ring’s slippy. That’s not the Mauricio Lara we know.
“So you’ve got to go away and find that hunger again, the hunger within that made you that fighter. And if you haven’t got that hunger any more, this might not be the game for you.”
Next fight for Mauricio Lara
So what comes next for Lara as he seeks to rediscover that hunger? According to Hearn he needs to right the wrongs of Friday night in an immediate Lugo rematch.
“So we’ve got to rematch that kid because I think he deserves it, and he’s got to put it right. He’s also got to decide if he’s 130 or 126 but it just comes down to in here [points to heart], if you don’t have it any more it’s not your game.
“Mauricio Lara is still a great fighter, but he’s got to find that edge that made him the bad man. It’s not a switch that you can flick. You can’t talk yourself into flicking.”
Hearn spoke again in depth about how it is so difficult for fighters who have come from nothing to make serious money, to retain the hunger and desire that got them there.
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“You look at where Mauricio came from – a bad part of town, he was a bad kid, he was a dangerous fighter.
“Came over, beat Josh Warrington, fought him at Headingley, beat Leigh Wood, rematched Leigh Wood. Made himself a lot of money, his life’s changed a lot. And I don’t blame people whose life changes and all of a sudden can’t be that same person or can’t be that same fighter.
Is Lara one of the ‘special ones’?
“The special ones are the ones that make that money, and are still the same fighter. Canelo Alvarez, Anthony Joshua – there’s a long list of names. But many fighters make that money, get out of where they’ve come from and don’t have the same hunger and desire.
“He must have that hunger and desire and it’s not just something you can talk yourself into – ‘I want it again’ – it’s got to come from deep within. So he’s got to ask himself those questions over the next couple of months.”
