By: Sean Crose
Erislandy Lara, a well known veteran of the fight game who was once seen as being a legit challenge to Floyd Mayweather, defended his WBA middleweight title Saturday night at Brooklyn’s Barclay’s Center against the colorful Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan. The scheduled twelve round affair was part of the Davis-Romero Pay Per View Undercard.
The fast hands of the southpaw Lara told the story of the first. O’Sullivan had a much better second, though Lara’s sharp shooting may have been enough to carry the round. The third was interesting. When Lara was on the ropes, O’Sullivan had the advantage. off the ropes, however, it was all Lara and his impressive, accurate punching.
O’Sullivan was having a good fourth, putting Lara and the ropes and going well to the body. Then, in the final minute of the round, some very impressive punching from Lara put the Irishman down. O’Sullivan gamely got up and survived the round, but Lara was clearly back in control. The fifth was exciting, with both men trading shots. It seemed only a matter of time, however, before Lara totally broke his man down.
By the sixth, O’Sullivan was getting busted up. He kept coming at Lara, though, to his credit. Regardless, Lara’s shots were certainly taking their toll. Still, O’Sullivan looked to be winning the seventh…at least until Lara rattled him in the final seconds of the round. Lara rocked his man early on in the eighth, then rocked him again. The referee wisely stepped in and ended things.