Erislandy Lara evidently is far from finished at 40.
The WBA middleweight titleholder from Cuba stopped Michael Zerafa in the second round to retain his belt on the Tim Tszyu-Sebastian Fundora card Saturday in Las Vegas.
Nothing much happened until the violent ending, as each fighter used the first one-plus rounds to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the other.
Lara (30-3-3, 18 KOs) evidently figured it out quickly. In the final seconds of Round 2, Zerafa missed a left jab, and Lara, a southpaw, countered with a right and then a straight left to the chin that put Zerafa onto his back and hurt him badly.
Zerafa (31-5, 19 KOs) was able to get to feet but stumbled into a corner, which convinced referee Allen Huggins that the challenger was in no condition to continue. And no one objected to the stoppage.
The official time of the knockout was 2:59, meaning one second remained in the round.
Lara was making the second defense of his title. He also had a long reign as a 154-pound champion.
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