Erislandy Lara considers Carlos Adames the second-best middleweight in boxing.

The WBA 160-pound champion felt that way “a 100 percent” before Janibek Alimkhanuly tested positive for Meldonium, a banned substance, and cost Lara an opportunity to add the IBF and WBO belts to his resume Saturday night. Unfortunately for Lara, he won’t fight Adames, either, because they’re both prepared by Ismael Salas at the veteran Cuban trainer’s gym in Las Vegas.

“We have no plans to fight each other,” Lara, a Cuban southpaw, told The Ring. “We’re train at the same gym, with the same trainer.”

Their familiarity convinced Lara that Adames is better than Alimkhanuly and any other middleweight besides him.

“I train with him,” Lara said. “I see it every day, the fact that he’s so skilled, the determination that he has. There’s no doubt in my mind about where he stands.”

The Dominican Republic’s Adames (24-1-1, 18 KOs) is The Ring’s second-ranked contender for its unclaimed middleweight title.

Adames, the WBC champ, hasn’t fought since his suspect split draw with England’s Hamzah Sheeraz (22-0-1, 18 KOs) on February 22 in Saudi Arabia. He was ordered at the WBC’s annual convention this week in Bangkok, Thailand, to make a mandated defense next against Kazakhstan’s Meiirim Nursultanov (20-0, 11 KOs).

Kazakhstan’s Alimkhanuly (17-0, 12 KOs) is ranked No. 1 by The Ring.

Lara, a former WBA 154-pound champ, isn’t listed in The Ring’s top 10 because he hasn’t fought since September 2024, when he stopped Danny Garcia after the ninth round in Las Vegas.

Lara, 42, will end a 14-month layoff when he defends his title versus Venezuela’s Johan Gonzalez (36-4, 34 KOs) on Saturday night at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio. Gonzalez replaced Alimkhanuly on less than one week’s notice once VADA revealed he'd failed a performance-enhancing drug test.

The bout between Lara and Gonzalez will be part of the Lamont Roach-Isaac Cruz pay-per-view undercard. Premier Boxing Champions’ four-fight show is set to begin at 8 p.m. ET and costs $74.99 in the United States.