Photos: Emily Harney
WBA middleweight champion Erislandy “The American Dream” Lara (29-3-3, 17 KOs) dominated and stopped Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan (31-5, 21 KOs) on Saturday night at Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn New York. Lara, 39, dropped O’Sullivan in round four, then repeatedly rocked O’Sullivan in ensuing rounds until the bout was stopped at :23 of round eight.
“This new style that I’m demonstrating is for all the boxers to show them how I can fight now, just being able to change up,” said Lara. “He was a tough boxer, too. I’m a smart boxer, a slick boxer, that’s what I did tonight. I waited until he attacked and then I did what I had to do to win the fight.
“I saw the opening, he was leaving himself open and that’s when the left came in and knocked him down. I saw in the eighth round he didn’t have any more power and that’s when I stepped up and showed my power.”
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how un-shocking. lol. lousy matchup
Lara did well.
PBC & Mayweather are known for pathetic undercards on PPV fights. At least back in the day Don King would put on decent, stacked cards for big fights.
1994 is a long time ago.
Actually, Don King was the shining example of poorly put together fight cards, especially in the 80s and 90s. He kept excellent fighters like Tim Witherspoon under contract to control them and put together weak undercards while headlining JC Chavez and Mike against inferior opposition. This was sold at a premium to the fans, which was the death knell for boxing on network TV. Don King is a cancer who almost singlehandedly killed boxing.
I refuse to watch this boring a$$ Cuban fight. Too boring.
Lara underrated and over avoided. It’s the twilight of his career, now let’s get one more big payday and another title.
My damn site was messing up so I missed it. L
Sullivan has milked that Douglas win for 5 years- oh, and the mustache. Too much spectacle, not enough substance these day
How about Lara vs. Eubank, Jr. or Adames. Otherwise, Lara may have to wait on the side until something else develops.
I still remember when Erislandy Lara beated Canelo and got badly robbed.
He’s just winding down his career. Fighting once a year against… just guys. Out of his last four fights, O’Sullivan, on paper, is the best guy Lara has fought and it isn’t even really close.
I thought the stoppages last night were good. I was surprised last week when David Lemieux’s corner pulled the plug when they did. Yes he was taking a beating but was fighting back hard and even had Benavidez pinned against the ropes at times. It did not look good for Lemieux but I felt they pulled the plug a little soon. Last night I think O’ Sullivan was given proper chances and when the fight was stopped he could no longer defend himself… good stoppage. In the Tank fight…the ref did a proper assessment of Romero did not like how he responded and stopped the fight. The ref may have shown bias against Romero during the fight with all his warnings but the stoppage imo was fair. The only thing I can say with Lemieux is maybe his corner did not like how he was acting in the corner. Those are things that we are often not as privy to. Again like pretty well everyone on here I believe the writing appeared to be on the wall for Lemieux but from where I sat it still seemed a shade premature.
Ehhhh. This was just a feeler/rust breaker for Lara. Spike was never going to do anything unless Lara left his arms and legs at home.
I’ve always been a Lara fan and yes, he was shafted on 2 decisions in the past but, he’s long in the tooth. 2 easy fights with max profit and get out.
Best Lara has ever looked.
What a shame this fight happened..
ive got to disagree with rwb about bad pairing up..Osullivan is an extremely competent boxer, when was the last time lara fought anyway..besides how old is Lara now? whos the brain child that tagged him the name The American dream anyway..Does this guy know that Cuba just may be the hottest spot and new Mecca por la Habana.
both need to retire
Keep it up Lara great work at your age.
greg vendetti ,who went the distance with lara winning 4 rounds was supposed to fight ramos on this card until they backed out at the last moment . smart move on their part vendetti would have destroyed him