Gary 'Spike' O’Sullivan was unable to claim a secondary version of the WBA middleweight title after being outclassed then stopped in the eighth round by Erislandy Lara.

This was the Cork fighter’s first tilt at a world title, but he was a heavy underdog and was put down in the fourth round by his slick Cuban opponent at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

O’Sullivan was repeatedly troubled by his opponent’s left hook and it was that punch that led to him stumbling backwards into the ropes seconds into the eighth before Lara clinically finished things off.

It was a fifth defeat in 36 fights for the game O’Sullivan, while former light-middleweight world champion Lara (29-3-3, 17KOs) claimed the WBA’s ‘world’ title.

Gennady Golovkin, who it was announced earlier this week is set to step up to super-middleweight to challenge Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in September, is the organisation’s ‘super’ champion.

In the main event, Gervonta Davis retained his WBA ‘world’ lightweight crown with a sixth-round stoppage of fellow American Rolando Romero.

© RTÉ 2022. RTÉ.ie is the website of Raidió Teilifís Éireann, Ireland's National Public Service Media. RTÉ is not responsible for the content of external internet sites. Images Courtesy of Getty Images.