Former world champion boxer and ordained Orthodox Rabbi Yuri Foreman in a 2008 picture. Photo: Adam Ritter via Wikimedia Commons.

Former world champion boxer and ordained Orthodox Rabbi Yuri Foreman will seek to regain the junior middleweight title by taking on Erislandy Lara in a match next month in Miami, The Ring reported this week.

“I’m thrilled to be fighting for the world title,” the 36-year-old Foreman — a Belarus-born Israeli Jew who lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn — said in a statement about the upcoming Jan. 13 bout at Hialeah Park Racing and Casino. “I’m really looking forward to showcasing my skills and talent and becoming a two-time world champion. At this stage of my career, it would be a tremendous accomplishment. Lara is very crafty and many elite fighters have had trouble dealing with his style, but I have studied him and am very confident that I will defeat him by presenting him with something he’s never seen before.”

Lara — a 33-year-old Cuban defector — stated, “Yuri Foreman is a former world champion who is dedicated to this sport and will be looking to win another world title. I expect nothing but the best from him. On fight night, I’m making another statement and going for the knockout… Everyone should tune-in because it’s going to be a great night of boxing.”

In an interview with The Algemeiner last year, Foreman talked about his return to boxing after a two-year hiatus during which he studied to become a rabbi under the tutelage of DovBer Pinson, a Chabad rabbi based in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.

“Anything you do or anything you love to do, once in a while it’s good to take a break,” he said. “So, I retired for two years, but then realized that I miss it.”

“I love what I do, I’m good at it and I just felt like I needed to do some more,” he continued.