There he avenged an earlier loss to Russian Andrey Balanov, beat American Boyd Melson, upset top favorite and Olympic champion Bakhtiyar Artayev (31–22), and won Gold against Magomed Nurutdinov (BLR).

Boxing World Cup results 2005 Lara was considered a favorite to win the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

However, in 2007, Lara and Guillermo Rigondeaux defected from Cuba during the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Lara was successful and made his way to Hamburg, Germany, where he joined former Olympic champions Odlanier Solis, Yan Bartelemí, and Yuriorkis Gamboa in the Arena Box-Promotion stable.

On 1 January 2009, Lara made his ESPN debut and scored a first-round Technical knockout (TKO) against Rodrigo Aguiar.

On that same night, fellow Cuban boxer Guillermo Rigondeaux made his pro debut, which he also won via referee stoppage in the third round.

After beating Edwin Vazquez, Lara went on to win nine straight fights punctuated by four consecutive first-round knockout victories.

Although Lara had trouble connecting with his signature straight left hand initially, he found the distance by the middle rounds and began to mix in short hooks to the head while blocking most of Molina's constant body work.

[8][9] Lara fought former WBO welterweight champion Paul Williams on 9 July 2011, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where he lost a majority decision.

[11] Consequently, the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board suspended all three judges, and Lara received his first loss as a professional fighter in a highly controversial fashion.

[12][13] On 20 April 2012, Lara made his comeback to the ring after nine months to fight Ronald Hearns for the WBC super welterweight semi-final eliminator spot at the Beau Rivage casino resort in Biloxi, Mississippi.

[16] On 10 November 2012, at the Wynn Resort in Las Vegas, Lara faced Vanes Martirosyan, who was undefeated at the time and known for his amateur wins over Andre Berto, Austin Trout, and Timothy Bradley.

[19] After a clash of heads resulted in a gash over Martirosyan's left eye in the ninth round, the ringside doctor waved off the fight.

[20][21] On 8 June 2013, at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, Lara received the first two knockdowns of his professional career en route to earning a TKO victory over Mexico's Alfredo Angulo along with the interim WBA super welterweight title.

[24] The fight was stopped in round ten when Angulo refused to continue after a straight left hand by Lara caused swelling around his right eye.

Lara, however, put on a dominant performance as he immediately nullified Trout's offense using deft footwork and clean punching.

Lara's WBA super welterweight title was not on the line as the fight took place at a 155-pound catchweight, and both fighters weighed in at precisely 155 pounds.

On 12 December 2014, at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, Lara showcased his ability to move in range to punch and then swiftly escape without taking damage against Ishe Smith.

[33] Lara dominated the fight and successfully defended his WBA (Regular) super welterweight title by unanimous decision with the scorecards reading: 119–109, 119–109, and 117–111.

On a wetted canvas due to prior heavy rain, Lara began by walking down Zaveck who was relying on wide punches.

After seizing ring generalship, Paulie Malignaggi noted Lara's "fluid footwork" and a resemblance to Pernell Whitaker as he often ducked low and displayed tricky pivot moves to evade Martirosyan's punches by inches.

[45] It was confirmed on 24 August 2017, by Ringtv that Lara would fight former Olympian Terrell Gausha (20–0, 9 KOs) as part of a super welterweight triple header on 14 October 2017, at the Barclays Center in New York City.

[51] On 9 January 2018, it was confirmed that a deal was being put in place for a unification fight between Lara and IBF junior middleweight champion Jarrett Hurd (21–0, 15 KO) for April 2018 with Showtime televising the bout.

[55] Hurd won a 12-round split decision over Lara in what was a potential fight of a year candidate to become a unified light middleweight champion.

[57] With the win, Hurd became seventh unified world title holder in light middleweight history, joining Hall of Famers Terry Norris, Félix Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya and Winky Wright, as well as Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Canelo Álvarez.

[60] Although the WBA ordered a direct rematch between Lara and Hurd, the latter rejected the idea stating he wanted to move on to bigger fights to become undisputed light middleweight champion.

[61] In October 2018, at the WBC annual convention in Kyiv, it was announced that Jermell Charlo would be allowed to make another voluntary defence and Lara was ordered to fight Julian Williams (25-1-1, 15 KOs, 1 NC) in a final eliminator.

[63] On 2 March 2019, Lara faced Brian Castano for the WBA world super welterweight title and fought to a split-decision draw.

[68] On March 30, 2024 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Lara defeated Michael Zerafa via second-round TKO and made the second successful defense of his WBA middleweight title.

[69] Lara is scheduled to make the third defense of his WBA middleweight title against Danny Garcia at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on September 14, 2024.