WBA middleweight champion Erislandy Lara (30-3-3, 17 KOs) looked like a fighter in his early 20s, obliterating #1-ranked Michael Zerafa (31-5, 19 KOs) by a second round KO on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The knockout was the most impressive thus far on tonight’s PBC card on Prime Video PPV.

Lara Connects With Powerful Left

Lara was covering up, playing possum in the second round, taking hard punches from the young Aussie Zerafa. However, out of nowhere, the southpaw former Cuban amateur star Lara threw a scorching left hand that dropped Zerafa as if a 50-caliber had shot him.

The punch sent Zerafa down hard on the canvas. Surprisingly, he got up, barely beating the count. He then fell into the ropes, promoting the referee to half the contest. The bout was stopped officially at 2:59 of round two.

Zerafa looked lost from the opening round, having trouble with the left counters that Lara was hitting him with. He applied pressure on Lara, but was paying for everything he landed. With the way that Zerafa was getting hit, it was only a matter of time before he got knocked out.

Zerafa’s performance was similar to his fifth round blowout KO loss to Peter Quillin earlier in his career in 2015.