WBC moves Lara-Martirosyan purse bid to July 13

The purse bid for the WBC-mandated eliminator between junior middleweight contenders Vanes Martirosyan and southpaw Erislandy Lara has been moved to Friday, July 13, at the request of Golden Boy Promotions, which promotes Lara, the organization's Secretary General, Mauricio Sulaiman, informed RingTV.com on Monday.

The winner of the bout between Lara (17-1-1, 11 knockouts) and Martirosyan (32-0, 20 KOs), who is handled by Top Rank, would become the mandatory challenger to face beltholder Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (40-0-1, 29 KOs).

The WBC's decision eliminates the 30-day free negotiations period between the fighters, after which the purse bid was to be held on July 27.

"We have changed the date to this Friday as per the request of Golden Boy Promotions, and our rules stipulate that whenever a party that is involved has a specific request, that we can move the date," said Sulaiman, who said that the bid must take place at the WBC's headquarters in Mexico City. "There was no negotiations going on, so they will go directly into the purse bid."

Lara is coming off a June 30 unanimous decision over Freddy Hernandez that followed a first-round knockout of Ronald Hearns in April.

Prior to facing Hearns, Lara had not been in the ring since July of last year, when he lost a disputed majority decision to fellow left-hander Paul Williams, which many observers thought Lara had won.

Alvarez is coming off his fourth defense of his belt against ex-titleholder Sugar Shane Mosley, whom he defeated by unanimous decision in May. Alvarez is scheduled to face an opponent to be determined on Sept. 15.

A 29-year-old native of Cuba who lives in Miami, Lara recently signed with Al Haymon, Lara's manager, Luis DeCubas Jr, told RingTV.com.

Lem Satterfield can be reached at lemuel.satterfield@gmail.com