Luis Arias spent some time training alongside Erickson Lubin during the COVID-19 pandemic at Kevin Cunningham’s gym in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Arias moved back to Las Vegas before Cunningham, who trains Lubin, could work Arias’ corner for a fight. During that time, though, Lubin and Arias sparred several times against one another.
Lubin (24-2, 17 KOs) doesn’t place too much emphasis on sparring sessions, but the junior middleweight contender is certain that he operates on a higher level than Arias. The 27-year-old Lubin intends to prove his superiority over the provocative veteran in their 10-round, 157-pound fight Saturday night at The Armory in Minneapolis.
Showtime will televise Lubin-Arias as its co-feature before the Dominican Republic’s Carlos Adames (22-1, 17 KOs) defends his WBC interim middleweight title against Philadelphia’s Julian Williams (28-3-1, 16 KOs, 1 NC) in the 12-round main event. The premium cable network’s three-bout broadcast is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. EDT (6 p.m. PDT).
“He just likes to talk,” Lubin told BoxingScene.com about Arias. “He’s a little bit delusional if you ask me. You know, he did his thing in the Jarrett Hurd fight. I was there, but it was a real back-and-forth fight. It was raining outside, maybe a little bit discomforting for Jarrett Hurd. … I don’t know. I can’t really say too much about that fight.”
Arias (20-3-1, 9 KOs, 1 NC) recorded the biggest win of his 10-year pro career when he upset Hurd (24-3, 16 KOs), a former IBF/IBO/WBA 154-pound champ, by split decision in their 10-round middleweight match on the Floyd Mayweather-Logan Paul undercard in June 2021 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. The 33-year-old Milwaukee native failed to capitalize on that momentum because underdog Vaughn Alexander (then 15-6-1) upset him by split decision in Arias’ subsequent bout, a 10-rounder on the Gervonta Davis-Isaac Cruz undercard in December 2021 at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
“I’ve been in the gym with Luis,” Lubin said. “I’ve trained with him, I sparred with him, but that don’t really mean nothing to me. My job is to go out there Saturday night and do my thing – not just win, but win in big fashion. I’m not overlooking him. I never overlook any opponent. I train as hard for a guy who’s 1-50 as a guy who’s 50-0. It doesn’t even matter.
“But, you know, I think he’s a solid opponent. I think he’s gonna come to fight. I know he knows who’s in front of him, so I’m sure he trained hard for this camp. But, you know, I just feel like I’m the better fighter. I feel like I do everything, in every department, better than him. So, I’m looking to go out there and put on a show.”
Lubin, a strong southpaw from Orlando, Florida, will fight for the first time in the 14 months since he lost by technical knockout to then-unbeaten Sebastian Fundora in a “Fight of the Year” candidate that took place in April 2022 at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. Lubin led on two scorecards (85-84, 85-84, 85-85), but an understandably concerned Cunningham stopped their fight after the ninth round due to Lubin’s severely swollen face.
“I’m looking to set the bar high for myself, you know, because I wanna be in those bigger fights,” Lubin said. “I wanna be in those undisputed matchups and title fights. You know, this isn’t where I wanna be, in a co-main event. I wanna be on big cards. My job is to go in there on Saturday night and blow him out the water.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.