WBA/IBO junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara will officially enter the middleweight ranks on May 1.

Lara will collide with Thomas “Cornflake” LaManna for the vacant WBA 'regular' middleweight title on May 1, as the main event of a FOX PBC Fight Night, from Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.

Their fight will top a pre-PPV card to hype the FOX Sports PBC Pay-Per-View event headlined by heavyweights Andy Ruiz and Chris Arreola.

Lara lost a Fight of The Year twelve round decision to Jarrett Hurd in 2018. In 2019, he fought to a close twelve round draw with Brian Castano and then blew away Ramon Alvarez in two rounds to capture the vacant WBA 'regular' title.

Lara (27-3-3, 15 KOs) last saw action in August 2020, when he easily outboxed Greg Vendetti to one-sided decision win to capture the vacant IBO title at 154-pounds.

The Cuban veteran now aims to become a two division world champion with a victory over LaManna.

“I’m excited to be making my 2021 debut on a huge platform live on FOX,” said Lara.

“Thomas LaManna is a tall middleweight with a lot of experience and I’m taking this fight very seriously, like always. I arrived weeks ago for training camp and Ismael Salas immediately got me working on the fundamentals of boxing. At this stage in my career, I’m all-action, fighting on the inside, and letting my hands fly. I’m going to make a statement in this fight with a knockout.”

LaManna (30-4-1, 12 KOs) is a tremendous underdog in the fight.

He suffered a third round knockout loss at the hands of Jorge Cota in January 2020. He then lost a very close decision to Brian Mendoza in August of the same year. He bounced back with two wins in Mexico over Jorge Pimentel and Juan de Jesus Gonzalez.