Johan Gonzalez faces Erislandy Lara this Saturday, December 6, at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas. The Venezuelan contender took the fight on short notice, replacing Janibek Alimkhanuly, who failed a VADA anti-doping test, Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) announced.
Gonzalez (36-4, 34 KOs) challenges Cuba’s two-division champion Lara (31-3-3, 19 KOs) for his WBA middleweight title. The contest is featured on the undercard of Isaac Cruz vs Lamont Roach, live on PBC PPV on Prime Video.
42-year-old Lara makes the fourth defense of his belt, having stopped Danny Garcia in nine rounds in his previous bout last September. 34-year-old Gonzalez makes his first attempt to win one of the four major belts, following his split-decision victory over Jarrett Hurd in March.
Lara was initially scheduled to meet unified IBF and WBO champion Alimkhanuly (17-0, 12 KOs) of Kazakhstan in a three-belt championship unification, serving as the co-feature.
The new co-feature is a super featherweight title fight between defending WBC champion O’Shaquie Foster (23-3, 12 KOs) of Orange, Texas, and Philadelphia’s two-division champion and current WBC featherweight titleholder Stephen Fulton (23-1, 8 KOs).
In the main event, Mexico’s Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz (28-3-1, 18 KOs) defends his interim WBC super lightweight title against reigning WBA super featherweight champion Lamont Roach (25-1-2, 10 KOs) of Washington, D.C.
Also on the card, Jesus Ramos Jr. (23-1, 19 KOs) of Casa Grande, Arizona, and Shane Mosley Jr. (22-4, 12 KOs) of Pomona, California, clash for the interim WBC middleweight title.
Among the prelims, Isaac Lucero (17-0, 13 KOs) and Roberto Valenzuela Jr. (31-5, 29 KOs) meet in an all-Mexican showdown at super welterweight.