While headliner Alfredo Angulo still is in search of an opponent for a Nov. 5 card to be televised on HBO, southpaw junior middleweight counter part Erislandy Lara‘s failure to land a rival could cost him an appearance on the planned double-header, said Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer.

.Angulo (20-1, 17 KOs) had been expected to face Vanes Martirosyan (30-0, 19 KOs), but Martirosyan turned down an offer to do so, Golden Boy matchmaker Eric Gomez told RingTV.com on Thursday.

Since it is was an eliminator for the right to be the WBC’s No. 1 contender, the winner of Angulo-Martirosyan would have been in line to meet titleholder Saul Alvarez (37-0-1, 27 KOs), who must first get beyond a defense against Alfonso Gomez (23-4-1, 12 KOs) on Sept. 17 at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Schaefer said Lara had been considered for a clash of southpaws opposite WBO titleholder Sergei Dzinziruk (37-1, 23 KOs).

“It will be a double-header in Cancun, but the Dzinziruk fight is not going to happen, and it does not look like Lara is going to be on the card,” said Schaefer.

“We are working with HBO to put the card together, and I would hope that sometime next week that we will have everything lined up.”

Lara’s manager Luis DeCubas Jr. had claimed that his fighter was also offered bouts opposite Angulo, hard-hitting James Kirkland (29-1, 26 KOs) and southpaw WBA “regular” titleholder Austin Trout (23-0, 13 KOs), but that none accepted.

The 28-year-old Lara was last seen in a July bout which most ringsiders thought he had won, but instead ended in a controversial majority decision loss to three-time titleholder Paul Williams (40-2, 27 KOs).

Lem Satterfield can be reached at [email protected]