By Rick Reeno

BoxingScene.com had been advised that the World Boxing Association has officially upgraded the upcoming junior middleweight fight between Erislandy Lara and Ramon Alvarez.

Initially, they were scheduled to fight for the WBA's "interim" title, but now the vacant "regular" title will be at stake.

The winner of the fight will have 120 days to collide with WBA "gold" champion Michel Soro (33-2-1, 22KOs), who last month stopped Anderson Prestot in five rounds in Paris, France. 

The WBA's "super" champion at 154 is Julian Williams, who also holds the IBF, IBO titles. Williams will likely defend his titles against former champion Jarrett Hurd in a rematch on December 14th at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Back in June, the WBA's "regular" champion was Brian Castano. He was removed from his position after failing to finalize a rematch agreement with Soro, who was the mandatory challenger to the secondary title. There was a contractual dispute which force Castano to walk away from the bout.

Lara (25-3-3, 14 KOs), a former unified champion, last fought to a twelve round split draw with Castano in March.

The fight with Alvarez is scheduled for August 31, on FOX, from the Minneapolis Armory in Minneapolis.

Alvarez (28-7-3, 16 KOs), the older brother of middleweight king Canelo Alvarez, was in action in April, when he picked up a close ten round split decision win over Jose Carlos Paz. The win allowed him to bounce back from a ninth round TKO defeat at the hands of Brandon Rios in November 2018.