Mauricio Lara will now turn his attention to a third fight with Josh Warrington after his thrilling win over Emilio Sanchez last night.
Their three-round war thrilled fans in San Diego where the main event featured Roman Gonzalez against Julio Cesar Martinez. Despite being hurt Lara recovered to destroy Sanchez with a brutal knockout as the bell sounded for the end of round three.
Lara, ranked 3rd by the IBF, now has his eyes on facing the Brit again should he beat champion Kiko Martinez for the title in their March 26 rematch. A win for Warrington would see him become a two-time title holder at 126lbs and would put him in the firing line of the hard-hitting Lara.
“Win your fight,” was Lara’s message to Warrington when he spoke to Matchroom Boxing after his win over Sanchez.
“I want you to win this fight and I hope that it goes well, and I want you to prepare well. This was my prize and I’m going to bring that to you in our fight.”
“I want to conquer all the belts at 126lbs,” he added. “I want to fight for the belts against any champion that gives me the opportunity. There’s Warrington but also, I want to unify all the belts at 126lbs.”
In February 2021 Lara caused a huge upset when he stopped Warrington in the 9th round of their non-title bout. Seven months later the Mexican travelled to the UK again, this time in Warrington’s home city of Leeds in front of a 20,000 outdoor crowd only for the fight to be halted in the second round. Their rematch was beginning to warm up before Lara got cut over the left eye leading to the fight being stopped and declared a technical draw.