Cornflake: Lara Moved Up To 160 To Avoid His Mandatory Michel Soro

Even though he will be a sizable underdog, Thomas “Cornflake” LaManna (30-4-1) is very confident that he will upset Erislandy Lara (27-3-3) on May 1st.

They will square off at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif. in a main event that will be televised by free to air FOX before the Andy Ruiz Jr.-Chris Arreola pay-per-view card begins later that night. The vacant WBA middleweight title will be at stake. 

The New Jersey native dropped back-to-back fights to begin his 2020 campaign but has since rebounded with knockout victories in his two most recent bouts. 

“Listen, I am just excited. It has been a long time coming. Everybody and their mother didn’t expect me to be here. I know nobody expects me to win which is even bettter. At the end of day, I gotta do what I gotta do to beat this guy. it won’t be a shock to me like it will be to everyone else. I am going to prepare for the best Erislandy Lara possible even though he is on the downslide,” LaManna stated. 

This will be Lara’s first fight in the middleweight division after having campaigned as a super welterweight for his entire professional career. 

Lara also holds the WBA super welterweight title and LaManna believes that there is a very different reason for his move up in weight rather than the opportunity to become a two-division champion.  

“I don’t think it has to do with the weight. The truth is that he doesn’t want anything to do with his mandatory challenger Michel Soro,” Cornflake told BoxingScene.com. 

LaManna believes that the extra weight is a big advantage for himself. He has fought as low as a welterweight and as high as a middleweight in his career and feels much stronger at the higher weight  He is confident that it will show when they set foot in the ring. 

“He can still make the weight at 154 but this weight definitely helps me. It is 6 more pounds I have to work with. I started my career at this weight and then worked my way down. I feel strong at this weight,” said LaManna. 

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