By Elisinio Castillo

Another fighter and another rumor has been rejected. A few weeks ago, Cuban gold medal winner Guillermo Rigondeaux was reported by several outlets as being enlisted as a sparring partner for WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, who is currently preparing for his May 2nd unification with WBC/WBA champion Floyd Mayweather Jr.

The Rigondeaux rumor was shot down by Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach. Now another Cuban fighter, WBA 'regular' junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara, is being reported as being a sparring partner for Pacquiao.

On Saturday, in an exclusive video interview with BoxingScene.com, Pacquiao was asked about the circulating rumors of Lara being hired to be one of his sparring partners and actually confirmed the rumors (very hesitantly), stating that Lara was indeed enlisted to his ongoing camp at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, California.

Members of Lara's team have denied the information to various Spanish outlets. The reports of Lara being a sparring partner was surprising and appeared to be a doomed rumor from the start. For one, Lara is a slick southpaw and a decent sized junior middleweight. More importantly, Lara shares the same adviser as Mayweather - Al Haymon. Given the cautious nature of internal training camp information, the odds of a Haymon-managed fighter being hired to be part of a Pacquiao camp is very unlikely.