Lara makes statement in return with KO win over O’Sullivan

Veteran Cuban hard hitter Erislandy Lara proved on his return to Brooklyn on Saturday that age is just a number.

This was after the 39-year-old Lara scored an eighth-round knockout of Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan in the Showtime Pay-Per-View card at Barclays Center.

Lara, who last fought in Brooklyn in 2019 wherein he settled for a draw with former champ Brian Castaño, made sure that there will be no controversies this time around as he dominated O’Sullivan from the start to finish.

A vicious left hand by Lara knocked O’Sullivan flat on his back late in the fourth round but the Irish managed to keep his bearings and beat referee Benjy Esteves’s count.

The Cuban continued to pounce on O’Sullivan in the next few rounds before throwing a powerful straight left hand in the eighth round that stumbled the latter backward. The referee allowed Lara to land one more punch before calling the fight off 23 seconds into the round.

With the victory, Lara retained his secondary WBA middleweight belt and improved to 29-3-3 (win-loss-draw) with 17 knockouts while O’Sullivan dropped to 31-5.