Erislandy Lara Stops Spike O’Sullivan!
In his latest call to duty, veteran middleweight boxer and regular WBA middleweight champion Erislandy “The American Dream” Lara (29-3-3, 17 KO’s) snagged his first win of 2022. The tricky Cuban southpaw pulled this feat off by stopping Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan (31-5, 21 KO’s) in the seventh. It was the first defense of the then vacant title. This is the same title that Lara bullied Thomas LaManna for almost exactly one year ago.
In that match, for which LaManna was extremely confident, Lara destroyed “Cornflake” like a bowl of cereal being eaten by a bunch of crumb-crusher kids watching of Saturday morning cartoons. With the defense of the secondary title, it will be telling to see who the American Dream can finagle a bout with next. Naturally, he would love the opportunity to dance with super WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin. Unfortunately for Lara, and much of the boxing world, Golovkin is heading to a largely pointless third match with undisputed super middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
Before Lara, O’Sullivan suffered knockout losses to David Lemieux and Jaime Munguia. In fact, the UK bruiser was only one bout removed from that late fight stoppage at the hands of Munguia. At the moment his future is looking rather dubious now that he has been stopped anew.
ONE-WAY TRAFFIC
Clearly having the faster hands and better technique, Lara dominated the first round while leisurely throwing shots off the back foot. Little changed over the next several rounds as The American Dream picked Spike apart and slowly started busting him up. In the third round, he had him cut on the inside left eye. In the fourth Lara dropped the UK import with a left hybrid hook/uppercut. O’Sullivan was lucky that it happened in the last fifteen seconds of the period.
Lara maintained control throughout the next several rounds. Outside of a few pockets of success, O’Sullivan had no answer. Then, once again in the closing seconds of the seventh, Lara badly hurt Spike with a straight left. Early in the eighth, The American Dream smashed him with a fresh straight left that left him back peddling across the ring. At that point, referee Benjy Estevez hopped in to halt the action.
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By: Bakari Simpson
