By: Sean Crose
All it took was a straight left. In truth, it didn’t even seen like a powerful punch. Still, the first round shot fired by the 27-3-3 Erislandy Lara to the head of 30-4-1 Thomas “Cornflake” Lamanna was enough to end things early. Their scheduled 12 round bout at the Dignity Healthy Sports Park in Carson, California lasted no more than half a round and earned the veteran Lara a WBA middleweight title (the division has numerous ones). Lamanna wasn’t the most prestigious opponent Lara has faced, but the Cuban fighter known as “The American Dream” looked impressive nonetheless.
Earlier on, the 24-2-3 featherweight Eduardo Ramirez faced off against the 17-2-0 Isaac Avelar in a scheduled 12 rounder for an interim WBA title. Avelar came on strong in the first and second, but a right sent Avelar to the mat in the third. He bravely got up, but he wasn’t able to hold the determined Ramirez off. The referee wisely stopped the action seconds later.
The Fox card was topped off when the 5-0 Fernando Molina battled the 4-2-1 Ricardo Marquez in a scheduled six rounder.