By Joseph Herron: Last night on “The Pugilist KOrner’s: Weekend Wrap”, veteran trainer Ronnie Shields shared his thoughts regarding Erislandy Lara’s (17-1-2, 11 KOs) technical draw with Vanes Martirosyan (32-0-1, 20 KOs) on Saturday night at the Wynn Las Vegas.
Although the Cuban exile didn’t take full advantage of his opportunity to meet Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in 2013, Mr. Shields is very proud of his Junior Middleweight star for fighting through a very unexpected situation.
“What most people didn’t realize was that Erislandy injured his right hand in the first round,” proclaims Ronnie Shields. “After the first round, he came back to the corner and whispered something into his manager Luis Decubas Jr’s ear. I didn’t find out until after the second round had started that Erislandy severely injured his right hand in the opening round.”
“I told Erislandy to just box Vanes and feel him out for the first few rounds. That was the primary game-plan anyway. I wanted to see what Freddie Roach had planned for Martirosyan to begin the fight. I had a feeling that they were going to have Vanes uncharacteristically fight while moving forward, because they felt Erislandy wasn’t as effective fighting while backing up.”
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