Erislandy Lara vs Tim Tszyu Nears Sign-Off for December in Australia

A December meeting between WBA middleweight champion Erislandy Lara and former super welterweight titlist Tim Tszyu is reportedly on the verge of getting done. No Limit Boxing's George Rose says negotiations are close to being finalised for the two to clash in Australia, which would give Lara his highest-profile assignment of the decade against a live, hungry opponent.

Lara (32-3-3, 19 KO) is 43 and, remarkably, still on top of a division. Fifteen years past his infamous points loss to Paul Williams, the Cuban southpaw has quietly become arguably the best middleweight going now that Janibek Alimkhanuly moved up in weight. He's on a seven-fight winning streak and coming off a unanimous-decision win over Johan Gonzalez.

The Competition Question

Here's the catch: that streak isn't stacked with elite names. Spike O'Sullivan, Michael Zerafa and a well-worn Danny Garcia don't exactly scream world-class resistance, and Lara hasn't shared a ring with a genuine top-tier opponent since his brutal 2019 draw with Brian Castano. Some of that isn't on him — he was days from a three-belt unification with Alimkhanuly last December before 'Qazaq Style' failed a drug test.

Tszyu (28-3, 18 KO), a dozen years younger, arrives with real momentum. He's rebuilt from a rough patch with three consecutive wins, the latest of which saw him grind down former welterweight standout Errol Spence Jr. That result reset his stock in a hurry and reminded everyone he can take over a fight in the trenches.

There won't be a mountain of hardware on the line beyond Lara's WBA strap, but the matchup makes sense on its own terms. Lara's legs aren't what they were, which cuts against the spoiling, stink-it-out approach that defined his prime and could push this toward something watchable. In a middleweight scene starved for compelling fights, that's a genuine plus.

For Tszyu, it's a chance to add a world title in a second division and cement the comeback narrative on home soil. For Lara, it's a big-money night against a name the wider audience actually knows. If the ink dries as expected, December suddenly has a fight worth circling.