Erislandy Lara vs. Ramon Alvarez PBC On FS1 Card Unveiled

Premier Boxing Champions has formally announced an FS1 card on August 31 featuring Erislandy Lara taking on Ramon Alvarez.

The August 31 PBC on FS1 card will take place from The Armory in Minneapolis and have both Lara and Alvarez fighting in the main event with the interim WBA junior middleweight title on the line. The fight also serves as a title eliminator for the WBA “Regular” title.

The interim title was created as a way to eventually resolve the WBA secondary 154-pound title situation. Brian Castano was originally supposed to face Michel Soro in a title rematch, but after the fight fell through, the WBA stripped Castano of the “Regular” title and ordered Soro and Lara to fight each other. But with Lara already booked to fight Alvarez, whose brother is unified middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez, the WBA approved a four-man tournament where Soro faces Magomed Kurbanov on July 20 for the “Regular” title and Lara vs. Kurbanov would be for the interim title. The winner of both fights have 120 days after August 31 to fight each other.

In the co-main event, former world champions Peter Quillin and Caleb Truax will have a rematch with a mandatory title shot at the IBF super middleweight belt. The two previously fought on April 13, but the fight was stopped after two rounds due to an accidental headbutt caused by Truax. As such, the fight, which was also an eliminator for the IBF title, was deemed a no decision.

The IBF champion is Caleb Truax, who is going to defend his title against Mike Lee on July 20 on a special PBC on FOX telecast that will lead in to the pay-per-view card headlined by Manny Pacquiao vs. Keith Thurman.

The opening fight of the FS1 card, undefeated junior middleweight prospect Sebastian Fundora will take on Jamontay Clark in an eight or 10-round fight. Fundora, who is advertised as the tallest junior middleweight in history at 6’6″, is coming off a fourth-round stoppage win over Hector Zepeda in the main event of a Showtime-televised broadcast on June 21. Clark suffered his only pro loss last August when he dropped a 10-round decision to Jeison Rosario, but has bounced back with a unanimous decision win over Vernon Brown back on March 24.