This Saturday night (December 6), Erislandy Lara will compete for the WBA middleweight title against substitute opponent Johan Gonzalez at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas.

Lala’s scheduled opponent, IBF and WBO middleweight champion Janikek Alimkhnuly, tested positive for PEDs. This makes it necessary to pull him out of the card.

Gonzalez is late

Boxing Insider, Dan Raphael reveals the news The 34-year-old Venezuelan John Gonzalez (36 wins, 4 losses, 34 KOs) became Laura’s replacement opponent.

Since 2024, John has lost two of his last five fights, knocking out junior middleweights Younes Tellez and Jesus Ramos Jr. at 154. In Gonzalez’s last fight, he defeated 35-year-old former two-time 154-pound champion Jarrett Hurd via a 10-round split decision on March 1, 2025.

Earlier today, reports emerged that Janibek had tested positive for the PED meldonium. He immediately responded on X, saying he was “surprised” by the results and saying he wanted to retest. However, he was removed. It is unclear whether he would have been stripped, fined and suspended if his retest was also flagged.

This is a real negative for Janibeck’s career, as he’s been chasing WBC middleweight champion Carlos Adams for a unification fight for over a year.

Will Laura retain her co-starring spot?

As for Erislandy Lara’s replacement, it’s not a formidable opponent for the pricey $74.99 PPV event on Amazon Prime Video. It’s unclear if Lara Croft’s fight will remain in the syndicated feature. Considering his opponent has been eliminated twice since 2024 and has lost two of his last five fights, it doesn’t make sense to keep him in this position.

To keep Lara on the cards, he’ll need someone as reliable as Yoenli Hernandez, Jesus Ramos Jr. or Meirim Nurstanov as a replacement. For Laura, 42, it was too risky to fight a young gun on short notice.