Light-middleweight hotshots Erislandy Lara and Austin Trout traded verbal jabs ahead of their crunch Brooklyn world title showdown, live on BoxNation.
The pair were speaking ahead of this weekend’s highly anticipated bill, taking place at the Barclays Center in New York, and headlined by Paulie Malignaggi and Zab Judah, with the Brooklyn natives set to tussle for bragging rights.
Nevertheless, the stacked undercard features no fewer than three world title fights, with IBF welterweight ace Devon Alexander defending his belt against undefeated Shawn Porter and Sakio Bika putting his WBC super-middleweight crown on the line against hard-hitting Anthony Dirrell.
Yet, it is the heated exchanges between Lara and Trout which has stoked the flames ahead of a potential blockbuster matchup between two of the light-middleweights leading names, with the 30-year-old Cuban, Lara, blasting his American foe.
“Austin Trout is an okay fighter. There’s nothing special about him. I feel that he’s on his way out. He had his time and I’m going to prove that,” said Lara. “As far as having a heart, you know, let’s see in the ring. I’ll show him in the ring who has a heart or not and we’ll decide then,” he said.
“My job is to first beat Austin Trout and then after that all the other doors are going to open up and I’ll take on all comers. Right now I’m just focused on this fight and I’m focused on busting up Austin Trout’s mouth,” Lara said.
Lara was also less complimentary when asked to compare Trout to former opponent Paul Williams, who handed him his lone defeat back in 2011.
“The big difference between Paul Williams and Austin Trout is that Paul Williams has balls,” mocked Lara. “He was a fighter that would attack you and he was aggressive and he would come at you and he knew how to box as well. With Austin Trout, he’s just a guy that runs; he’s a fighter that runs,” he said.
The former WBA light-middleweight world champion, Trout, will have a chance to win back his former belt when he goes in against Lara for the vacant title, though, he was equally disparaging when assessing his upcoming opponent.
“Somebody has got to get rid of this guy and I’m happy to be the one to do it. I feel like I’m the only one that can do it, so it’s really honourable to be able to get in there and get my belt back at the same time. He’s a different calibre of fighter and a different breed and I’m going to make him look like the amateur he is,” Trout stated.
“But you know me, I’ll take all comers and for him to say I don’t have any balls, he’s never watched me fight, which is fine. He can sleepwalk if he wants to.
“Have you ever seen me run in a fight as opposed to Erislandy Lara? That’s all he does in the ring, so I mean, he’s just talking. I’m not a runner; I box, but I don’t run. And I like to fight, which you can’t say about him. If you watch my fights you’ll see, I don’t run,” Trout responded.
Malignaggi vs. Judah & Lara vs. Trout can be seen live and exclusive on BoxNation (Sky Ch. 437/Virgin Ch. 546). Visit www.boxnation.com to subscribe.