By Keith Idec

Erislandy Lara revealed during the final press conference for his rematch against Vanes Martirosyan that he went into their first fight with a fractured knuckle.

The 33-year-old Lara didn’t specify the hand in which he suffered the fracture, but indicated it hindered him somewhat in a bout that ended in a technical draw. They’ll fight again Saturday night for Lara’s WBA/IBO super welterweight titles in the 12-round main event of a Showtime tripleheader from The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas (9 p.m. ET/PT).

“One difference between this fight and our first fight is that I’m coming into this fight 100-percent healthy,” Lara said. “I’m not making any excuses, but I had a fractured knuckle going into our first fight. I still felt I was winning the fight. This time I’m not going to leave any doubt about who is the best.”

The Cuban-born southpaw believes he clearly was out-boxing Martirosyan (36-2-1, 21 KOs) when their first fight was stopped in the ninth round after an accidental clash of heads opened a nasty cut over Martirosyan’s left eye. Only one judge, Richard Ocasio, had Lara (22-2-2, 13 KOs) ahead when the fight ended early (87-84) in November 2012 at Wynn Las Vegas.

Judge Jerry Roth scored the fight for Martirosyan, 86-85. The third judge, Dave Moretti scored that WBC 154-pound championship elimination match even, 86-86.

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.