Erislandy Lara annihilates Thomas Lamanna in round 1 (Video)

Erislandy Lara only needed a little over a minute to put Thomas Lamanna to sleep on the undercard of Andy Ruiz Jr. vs. Chris Arreola. 

Erislandy Lara made a dynamic entrance into boxing’s middleweight division by crushing Thomas Lamanna in round 1 on the May 1 undercard of Andy Ruiz Jr. vs. Chris Arreola.

On paper, Lara vs. Lamanna was a massive mismatch. The reality was even more one-sided.

In round 1 from the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California, Lara started to thump Lamanna early and often with his left cross. The veteran southpaw was putting clinic on Lamanna early. Lamanna never learned his lesson.

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Erislandy Lara ended Thomas Lamanna’s night in a flash with a jolting left hand to earn the round 1 KO

A little less than midway into round 1, Lara wound up with his left hand and caught Lamanna on the side of the head, and rendered him unconscious immediately.

It was a scary knockout, and Lara’s shot badly hurt Lamanna. It took several minutes, but Lamanna made it to his feet and appeared to be okay.

With his knockout of Lamanna, Lara earns the vacant WBA “regular” middleweight title. Lamanna didn’t have the résumé to warrant a fight of this magnitude, and the result proved it. Lamanna was ranked as the 122nd best middleweight by Boxrec.com. It was a dangerous mismatch that probably shouldn’t have been made for a title.

Lara (28-3-3, 16 KOs) notches his third win in a row and his first as a middleweight. He’s 38 years old but is still a dangerous fighter that can give the middleweight elite problems. Hopefully, his next contest is more competitive than this bout was.