It’s difficult to gauge what currently occupies Erislandy Lara’s mind. Is he still excited, or a little dejected? Until three days ago, everything seemed set. Lara was preparing for the biggest test of his professional career. He was scheduled to face unified middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly for the WBO and IBF titles while defending his own WBA belt. But in a single night, everything changed.

The star-packed Lamont Roach Jr.-Isaac Cruz card now features a slightly revised lineup. Instead of Alimkhanuly, light middleweight contender Johan Gonzalez will challenge Erislandy Lara for the middleweight title. The co-main switch surfaced after reports confirmed that Alimkhanuly failed a doping test. No one could have predicted such a twist. Had he defeated the Kazakh champion, 42

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