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Mauricio Lara was perfectly fine with hitting the road once again.
The featherweight contender from Mexico City was less than two weeks out from challenging secondary WBA featherweight titlist Leigh Wood when a biceps injury forced Wood out of their September 24 clash in his hometown of Nottingham, England. The development briefly left Lara without a fight, before Matchroom Boxing scrambled to have him appear on a planned October 22 DAZN show in his own hometown against Colombia’s Jose Sanmartin.
It hardly means that he’s forgotten about what he feels is an unsettled discussion.
“I am going to fight Sanmartin at home and with all my people supporting me and it is something that motivates me,” Lara stated of the contingency plan. “But I know I’m close to being a world champion and at some point Wood still has to fight me.”
Lara (24-2-1, 17KOs) emerged from relative obscurity to become a major player in the featherweight division within the past couple of years. The unexpected journey began with an upset ninth-round knockout of then-unbeaten Josh Warrington in a February 2021 meeting at Wembley’s SSE Arena (now OVO Arena Wembley).
The only downside to the feat was that Leeds’ Warrington had just vacated his IBF featherweight title to proceed with the fight in lieu of a mandatory title defense in a rematch with countryman Kid Galahad. Lara agreed to an immediate rematch, traveling to Leeds for their WBA title eliminator last September 4. A headbutt produced a cut over Lara’s eye, prompting the end of the fight and a technical draw after just two rounds.
Warrington went on to fight for and recapture his IBF title, while Lara has fought just once since then—a third-round knockout of Emilio Sanchez on March 5 in San Diego. The expectation was to then challenge for Wood’s version of the WBA featherweight title, though instead left with his first fight at home in nearly two years.
Sanmartin (33-5-1, 24KOs) carries a seven-fight win streak into their upcoming main event. His last defeat came in a 12th round stoppage to Emanuel Navarrete in June 2018, six months prior to Navarette winning his first of two major titles. Lara hopes that his own sought win over Sanmartin will lead to his first career title fight—one where he’s prepared to travel anywhere in the world to achieve that goal.
“I have a lot of mixed feelings about what happened with my world title fight,” Lara admitted. “But I am concentrating on the positive. I still wish to become world champion, none of what has happened has stopped me from it.
“It’s been two years since I last fought in Mexico City, and I am so excited to be back with my people. I want to give them an overwhelming win and to hope I get the promised world title opportunity no matter where it takes place.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox