Lara fought former WBO welterweight champion Paul Williams on 9 July 2011, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where he lost a majority decision. Judges Don Givens (116–114) and Hilton Whitaker II (115–114) both favored Williams, while Al Bennett scored it even at 114–114. Most boxing analysts and fans believed that Lara clearly won the fight and had been unfairly judged. Lara was able to land hard, clean left hands throughout the fight while maintaining superb defense. Williams appeared hurt in the later rounds but did, however, keep up a high output of punches despite their relative ineffectiveness. CompuBox recorded Lara landing 49% of his power punches compared to 21% by Williams. Lara also landed 7 more jabs and 17 more power punches than Williams, despite the near two-fold activity by Williams. 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.