Erislandy Lara became the oldest world champion on Saturday night, however many fans were left underwhelmed by the poor showing.
Lara retained his WBA middleweight title against Danny Garcia, who was fighting for the first time since a win against Jose Benavidez Jr in July 2022.
The pair were fighting on the undercard of Canelo Alvarez’s comprehensive victory against Edgar Berlanga on Saturday night, but the crowd made their feelings known as they felt short-changed.
Erislandy Lara booed by fans during middleweight title fight
Aged 41, nobody was expecting Lara to pull up any trees but when hearing his opponent would be Garcia, who has fought twice in four years, the warning signs were already there.
Garcia could barely land a glove on Lara, landing just one punch in the fourth round as his opponent went through the motions.
His lack of competitive action took it’s toll on Garcia as he failed to engage with Lara before being knocked down in the ninth round to bring an end to the fight and extend Lara’s record as oldest boxing champion.
Fans inside the T-Mobile Arena were less than impressed though and those at the venue began to audibly boo at the low-quality affair.
Fans label Erislandy Lara fight the worst fight of the year
It wasn’t just those inside the stadium who were disappointed by what they saw as thousands of boxing fans took to social media to comment.
One fan said on X: “This Garcia Lara fight might be the most boring fight I’ve ever watched.”
A second said: “One of the worst fights I’ve seen.”
Another person wrote: “Lara vs. Garcia has to be the most boring ass fight that I’ve ever seen.
“This fight may be the worst I’ve ever seen”, claimed another.
This fan tweeted: “Garbage fight followed by garbage stoppage lol.”
Meanwhile, this user said: “Lara lands a few punches and Garcia gives up, pathetic fight.”