- Erislandy Lara returns to the ring to headline a PBC on Fox event against Greg Vendetti on Saturday.
- Lara, 37, told Insider he still feels young and is ready to return to the top of the super welterweight division in the coming years.
- He is targeting a knockout win this weekend and wants the winner from next month's Jermell Charlo and Jeison Rosario title unification, as well as a rematch against Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez.
- Should he get his wish, he will have tough fights ahead of him.
- But, as he told us, considering he defected from communist Cuba, escaping abject poverty to become a US citizen, he has already fought — and won — the biggest bout of his life.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Boxing comes easy for Erislandy Lara because he's already won the biggest fight of his life — becoming a US citizen after defecting from Cuba's communist regime.
In 2005, Lara won a gold medal at the World Amateur Championships and was gaining such momentum that he was considered the favorite to win the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, too.
But the year before the Olympics, Lara was caught in Brazil having attempted defection, and so was returned to Cuba and banned from boxing.
Months later he tried defecting again, this time hiking 15 miles to a beach where a speedboat took 35 passengers across the shark-infested Yucatan Channel toward Mexico. His safety could not be guaranteed.
"It was raining. The water was freezing, coming all over the sides and jumping all over the boat," he said, according to Premier Boxing Champions. "It was a terrible time not knowing if you're going to make it or not, live or die."
After landing in Cancun, he ventured to Germany where a boxing promoter called Ahmet Ohner, together with a pro career in Europe, awaited. Behind, he left his two sons, his mother, and other friends and family.
The trip cost $40,000, a fee which Ohner helped negotiate down from $200,000 when those facilitating the escape realized Lara was a famous fighter, ESPN reported.
Over the years he moved to America and punctuated his impressive amateur career with good performances against Paul Williams, Alfredo Angulo, and Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez.
Then, in 2017, next to his wife Yudi and with three more children, he took the oath of allegiance and became a US citizen.
Speaking to Insider this week through a translator, Lara called that 10-year battle for US citizenship the fight — and win — of his life.
"Fighting to come over to get my US citizenship, going through that whole process, is pretty much the biggest fight I've been in," Lara told us. "I'm just happy to have come out on top."
Lara told Bleacher Report in 2016 that whenever he returned to Cuba after competing in an international amateur tournament, it would mean a return to poverty, which would be at odds with stories he would hear from athletes representing other countries who may not have had it easy, but certainly did not have it as hard.
"I've left that stuff in the past and only looking forward since becoming an American citizen," Lara said ahead of his return to the ring Saturday.
Lara headlines a behind-closed-doors show against Greg Vendetti at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles — his first fight in the coronavirus era, broadcast on Fox Sports.
Though he has already triumphed in the fight of his life, he said he still has to box with the same nerves, feeling the same emotions, because otherwise he'd be in danger of treating the sport like it had suddenly become too easy, when the opposite is often true.
"I still need to fight with the same anxiety and the same hunger [now, as I did before becoming a citizen]," Lara said.
"In this game, once you lose that, there's no point in keeping on fighting. I'm looking on to the future, and with that, to fight with the same anxiety I've always had."
Lara wants to rematch Alvarez, who he feels robbed him of a win
Perhaps related to the relief of becoming a US citizen in recent years, living up to his nickname as "The American Dream," Lara said he feels better now than he ever has done, even at 37 years old, an age when many boxers would have retired.
"Thank God, I feel great and better than I did six years ago," he said. "I feel like a bright new kid in my 20s, and I'm ready to go again.
"I feel great, haven't been in the ring for a year, but I came into camp in shape and focused on my fight," Lara said.
Lara has fought for or held various parts of the fractured world championships at the super welterweight limit of 154-pounds every year since 2014, and is expected to defeat Vendetti with ease in a stay-busy fight, ahead of significant showdowns in the next six to 12 months.
He said he doesn't know too much about Vendetti, but is hunting for a highlight-reel knockout finish, which would advance his record to 27 wins (16 knockouts) against three losses.
"I see nothing but big fights in my future after I'm victorious on Saturday," he said. "I'd love to fight the winner of the [September bout] between Jermell Charlo and Jeison Rosario [a WBC, WBA, and IBF title unification]. And I'd love to get a rematch with Canelo as well."
Lara's desire for a rematch with Alvarez, Insider's No.1 boxer in the world right now, is no surprise.
Having never lost by stoppage, and considering his awkward but effective style while boxing from the southpaw stance, Lara has been on the wrong-end of a number of decisions.
His first loss, to Paul Williams, was Boxing Scene's "robbery of the year" in a year-end award in 2011.
But Lara said his defeat to Alvarez three years later was an even bigger travesty.
"It was disgraceful what they did to us," Lara said in 2014, according to Boxing Scene. "I want an immediate rematch. I will once again show that I'm better than him. He knows in his heart that he lost."
Lara nullified Alvarez's jab and out-landed the Mexican in total punches, but lost a split decision. He said the result was "way worse than the Williams fight."
Regardless, these days, he has one thing on his mind: total domination at super welterweight, then Alvarez once again.
"I ran the division and was the king of the division for many years at 154-pounds," Lara told us.
"The people who came after me haven't defended the titles as many times as I have. And so I'm looking forward to gaining my reign back."
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