| Mauricio Lara | |
| Realname: | Mauricio Lara Acosta |
| Nickname: | Bronco |
| Weight: | Featherweight |
| Height: | 5 ft 7 in |
| Reach: | 67 in[1] |
| Birth Date: | 23 February 1998 |
| Birth Place: | Mexico City, Mexico |
| Style: | Orthodox |
| Boxrec: | 783107 |
| Total: | 31 |
| Wins: | 26 |
| Ko: | 19 |
| Losses: | 3 |
| Draws: | 2 |
Mauricio Lara Acosta (born 23 February 1998) is a Mexican professional boxer. He held the WBA featherweight title in 2023.
In his toughest test to date, Lara faced undefeated former IBF featherweight champion Josh Warrington on 13 February 2021 at the SSE Arena in London. No title was on the line as Warrington had vacated his IBF featherweight title a month prior.[2]
Warrington had started off the fight slower than usual, and in the fourth round, Lara hurt him with a left hook before knocking his opponent down. Despite getting up, Warrington never regained his legs, though he was able to land a few effective combinations on Lara in the subsequent rounds. In the ninth round, Lara once again knocked his opponent down with a left hook, and the fight was immediately called off by the referee, handing Warrington his first career loss, breaking Warrington's 30-0 unbeaten streak.[3] Lara's victory was considered a major upset, as he had been rated as an 11/1 (+1100) pre-fight underdog, compared to Warrington having been rated as the 1/33 (-3300) betting favorite.[4] The Ring magazine opined that the result was an early candidate for its Upset of the Year award.[5]
It was announced on 14 July 2021 that Lara and Warrington would face each other in a rematch on 4 September at Headingley Stadium in Warrington's hometown of Leeds, England. Lara expressed excitement about the prospect of potentially handing Warrington another defeat, saying, “I’ve never been much of a talker, I’d rather do my talking in the ring. I’m going for a repeat performance on September 4. Hit once, hit twice. Warrington should know that I am coming for him. This is all about pride. This is for Mexico!”[6] The fight ended in a technical draw after 2 rounds, after Lara was badly cut above his left eye due to a head clash.[7]
See main article: Leigh Wood vs Mauricio Lara. On 24 August 2022 was announced that Leigh Wood would make his second WBA (Regular) title defence against Lara. The title bout was expected to headline a DAZN broadcast card, which would have taken place at the Motorpoint Arena Nottingham in Nottingham, England on 24 September 2022.[8] However Leigh Wood withdrew from the fight ten days before it was supposed to take place, due to a torn biceps suffered in sparring.[9]
Lara was once again booked for WBA featherweight title fight against Leigh Wood. [10] The fight took place on 18 February 2023. Mauricio Lara knocked down the champion with a left hook near the end of the seventh round, and Wood's trainer decided to throw in the towel. Lara became WBA featherweight champion.[11]
Lara was expected to defend the WBA featherweight title against Wood in the Manchester Arena, on May 27, 2023.[12] Lara missed weight by 3.8 lbs at the official weigh-ins and was stripped of the belt, leaving only Wood eligible to win the vacant championship.[13] On May 27, Lara lost to Wood via unanimous decision, with two scorecards of 118–109 and one scorecard of 116–111.[14]
On February 16, 2024 in Oaxaca, Mexico, Lara was scheduled to face Daniel Lugo in a 10-round bout at featherweight.[15]
| Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | Draw | 26–3–2 | Daniel Lugo | MD | 10 | 16 Feb 2024 | |||
| 30 | Loss | 26–3–1 | Leigh Wood | UD | 12 | 27 May 2023 | |||
| 29 | Win | 26–2–1 | Leigh Wood | TKO | 7 (12), | 18 Feb 2023 | |||
| 28 | Win | 25–2–1 | José Sanmartin | TKO | 3 (10), | 22 Oct 2022 | |||
| 27 | Win | 24–2–1 | Emilio Sanchez | KO | 3 (10), | 5 Mar 2022 | |||
| 26 | Draw | 23–2–1 | Josh Warrington | 2 (12), | 4 Sep 2021 | ||||
| 25 | Win | 23–2 | Josh Warrington | TKO | 9 (12), | 13 Feb 2021 | |||
| 24 | Win | 22–2 | Sergio Puente | UD | 10 | 4 Dec 2020 | |||
| 23 | Win | 21–2 | Jesus Quijada | TKO | 8 (10), | 21 Aug 2020 | |||
| 22 | Win | 20–2 | Alejandro Palmero | TKO | 1 (10), | 4 Jul 2020 | |||
| 21 | Win | 19–2 | Alejandro Palmero | TKO | 4 (8), | 1 Feb 2020 | |||
| 20 | Win | 18–2 | Rafael Sanchez Rodriguez | KO | 4 (8), | 7 Dec 2019 | |||
| 19 | Win | 17–2 | Eduardo Estela | TKO | 8 (10), | 28 Sep 2019 | |||
| 18 | Win | 16–2 | Oscar Barajas | RTD | 5 (8), | 6 Jul 2019 | |||
| 17 | Win | 15–2 | Guillermo Avila | TKO | 2 (8), | 23 Mar 2019 | |||
| 16 | Win | 14–2 | Jose Calyecac | UD | 8 | 12 Jan 2019 | |||
| 15 | Win | 13–2 | Alberto Luna Galicia | TKO | 6 (8), | 17 Nov 2018 | |||
| 14 | Win | 12–2 | Sergio Alfredo Chirino Sanchez | 2 (8), | 25 Aug 2018 | ||||
| 13 | Loss | 11–2 | Eliot Chávez | KO | 1 (6), | 19 May 2018 | |||
| 12 | Win | 11–1 | Daniel Colula | TKO | 1 (6), | 10 Mar 2018 | |||
| 11 | Win | 10–1 | Israel Robles | UD | 6 | 20 Jan 2018 | |||
| 10 | Win | 9–1 | Luis Gerardo Perez Salas | 1 (6), | 25 Nov 2017 | ||||
| 9 | Win | 8–1 | Erick Andrés Cruz | TKO | 4 (6), | 8 Jul 2017 | |||
| 8 | Win | 7–1 | Eduardo Baez | UD | 6 | 1 Apr 2017 | |||
| 7 | Win | 6–1 | Martin Jimenez Delgado | UD | 4 | 21 Jan 2017 | |||
| 6 | Win | 5–1 | Israel Rodriguez Picazo | SD | 4 | 14 Dec 2016 | |||
| 5 | Win | 4–1 | Julio Cesar Olvera Rodriguez | TKO | 2 (4), | 26 Nov 2016 | |||
| 4 | Win | 3–1 | Joel Cordova | TKO | 4 (4), | 5 Nov 2016 | |||
| 3 | Win | 2–1 | Daniel Carrillo | 2 (4), | 17 Sep 2016 | ||||
| 2 | Win | 1–1 | Rogelio Perez Marquez | 4 | 8 Jul 2016 | ||||
| 1 | Loss | 0–1 | Julio Carabino | 4 | 10 Oct 2015 |