Demetrius Andrade vacated his WBA (Regular) title on 22 October 2017, after making his debut at middleweight. The WBA, in their efforts to reduce the number of titles in each weight division, promoted Interim titleholder Brian Castaño (14-0, 10 KOs) to WBA (Regular) champion. On 29 October, the WBA ordered the fight between Lara and Castaño. 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. On 25 January, the fight was confirmed to take place on 7 April. It was reported Lara would receive a purse of $1 million and Hurd would receive a $500,000 purse. Lara weighed 153.5 pounds and Hurd came in slightly lighter at 153 pounds.