Erislandy Lara and Danny Garcia will enter the ring a year too late after the two had been slated to fight each other in 2023. The two fighters, mostly known for their inactivity at this point, are both accomplished and have a decent amount of name recognition in the sport, but the “Tale of the Tape” between the two reflects more than just fight stats; it also represents a longstanding effort by Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) to derive others of opportunities in a bid to keep fights, and as a consequence world titles, “in house”.
PBC is one of the most notorious boxing companies in the United States, their conflicting status as a promotional outfit that is not officially recognized as a promotion just being one of the reasons for their notoriety.
More significantly, PBC has defined its business model through in-house fights1, which is mostly applied to ensure that world titles remain under the PBC brand in the possibility. With world titles being not only an object to signify a fighter’s achievement but further used as a bartering and promotional tool, the PBC has become quite well-known for controlling divisions by ensuring the bulk of the four main world titles remain with PBC fighters.
One clear example of this pertains to the career of former unified welterweight (147 lbs) champion Errol Spence Jr. (28-1, 22 KO’s) who fought a slew of top 147 lbs opponents aligned with the PBC until he was met with a fateful loss to free agent Terence Crawford (41-0, 31 KO’s) on July 29th. Prior to his loss, there was a clear sense of PBC holding all the cards in the 147 lbs division by preventing Crawford, a Top Rank fighter during most of Spence’s reign, from getting any opportunity to face Spence until both were in their mid-thirties.
Spence is far from the only example, with plenty of other fighters both outside and inside PBC having defined their careers by engaging with fighters of the same promotion. WBA lightweight (135 lbs) champion Gervonta Davis (30-0, 28 KO’s) similarly only fought competition that were under the PBC banner.
American former undisputed super welterweight (154 lbs) champion Jermell Charlo (35-2-1, 19 KO’s) also continues to remain one of the most poignant examples of the PBC’s adherence to in-house fights, with his entire undisputed run having consisted of opponent champions that were also signed to PBC, including former WBO champion Brian Castano, former unified WBA and IBF champion Jeison Rosario (24-4-2, 18 KO’s), and former WBC champion Tony Harrison.
Cuban-turned-American WBA middleweight (160 lbs) champion Erislandy Lara (30-3-3, 18 KO’s) may, however, be the most egregious example of how PBC sought to keep the 160 lbs WBA title within their grasp as other fighters in the division were denied an opportunity.
In 2021, Erislandy Lara won the WBA “regular” middleweight title after knocking out American contender Thomas LaManna (38-5-1, 17 KO’s) in just the first round. Over the course of the next three years, Lara defended his title just once in 2022, and roughly two years later in 2024 after being promoted to world champion in 2023.
Notably, there was a gap between 2022 and 2024 where Lara was conspicuously absent from the ring. This came amidst the period of 2023 when negotiations had been initiated with American former world champion Danny Garcia—who, like Lara, is aligned with PBC. The WBA, likely in conjunction with PBC, played a vital role in this regard as Lara continued to remain
The WBA was front and center with this issue, allowing Lara to negotiate with Garcia when he had been originally mandated to face Michael Zerafa (32-5, 20 KO’s) instead. As a result, Zerafa was denied an opportunity to fight for the world title during the entire year of 2023—despite his status as a WBA middleweight mandatory challenger then—and only this year would he finally face Erislandy Lara in a losing effort on March 30th.
Every step of the way, the WBA has shown complicity in not only allowing Erislandy Lara to remain a champion after not defending his title for over a year since 2022, but further continuing to entertain the Lara-Garcia fight right up until it was finally revealed to be a part of the upcoming September 14th card that will be headlined by Canelo Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KO’s) and Edgar Berlanga (22-0, 17 KO’s).
Whoever wins between Erislandy Lara and Danny Garcia will confirm an indisputable fact; that the WBA middleweight title will continue to remain in PBC’s hands. As such, it is highly possible that the WBA 160 lbs belt will continue to be used as a bargaining tool for the PBC to retain some semblance of control over the middleweight division, thereby depriving boxing of witnessing the opportunity to see an undisputed champion emerge.
For middleweight contenders ranked with the WBA and not aligned with PBC, the upcoming bout will also likely prevent them from gaining a foothold into the division unless they try their luck with other sanctioning bodies. However, with the WBC middleweight title currently held by Cuban PBC fighter Carlos Adames (24-1, 18 KO’s), the 160 lbs division continues to be under siege by PBC and subject to decisions that only affect them.
Former WBC champion Jermall Charlo (33-0, 22 KO’s) had notably been the WBA counterpart to Erislandy Lara, holding on to the title for almost four years as a PBC fighter without defending it before finally losing it this year. As such, despite Adames having complained about Charlo’s own long overdue tenure as a middleweight champion, he is likely to continue the longstanding PBC tradition of keeping the title in-house and preventing fighters from other promotions from earning an opportunity to fight for it.
There is hope that one day, a fighter will emerge to uproot PBC’s current hold on the middleweight division—whether that fighter is aligned with PBC or an entirely different promotion. with #1 WBA 160 lbs contender Shane Mosley Jr. (22-4, 12 KO’s) an unlikely yet possible candidate to break PBC’s hold over the division given his status as a Golden Boy Promotions fighter.
As it pertains to the WBC middleweight title, British contender and Queensberry Promotions fighter Hamzah Sheeraz (20-0, 16 KO’s) is the #1 WBC 160 lbs contender and can potentially dethrone incumbent WBC champion Carlos Adames.
However, it falls to the WBA and WBC to nominate Mosley Jr. and Sheeraz as mandatory challengers and order them to face their respective champions and vice-versa. With PBC expected not to engage or entertain negotiations with both fighters, the WBA and WBC can be considered the root cause of PBC’s enduring adherence to hog the aforementioned titles and prevent the middleweight division from progressing organically.
And as far as corruption seems to go in boxing, this case is still mild compared to that of others, but it perfectly encapsulates how PBC manages to retain its influence in boxing and with particular sanctioning bodies. The only recourse might be for PBC to go bankrupt or such, but despite certain rumors having indicated exactly this, the promotional company has somehow exceeded expectations by continuing to remain in business and put a chokehold on the 150 lbs division.
- Bouts between two fighters aligned with the same promotional company. ↩︎
