VERONA, New York – Lorenzo Parra may have begun his career as a bantamweight, but the Venezuelan showed he has brought his punch up with him to featherweight.
The 31-year-old Parra also brought a heavy heart with him to the ring on Saturday night, fighting the dangerous Elijah Pierce just days after the passing of his father. Parra was able to channel his grief into something productive, scoring a second-round knockout of Pierce here at Turning Stone Resort & Casino.
The end came at the 1-minute, 44-second mark as Parra trapped Pierce on the ropes and landed three dynamite shots that left Pierce unresponsive, leading to referee Ricky Gonzalez jumping in to halt the fight.
The ending came suddenly, as the fight had been mostly even to that point. The southpaw Pierce, two years younger at 29, appeared to be the fresher of the two in the first round, landing straight left hands to the body, which kept Parra at bay.
The loss snapped a 12-fight winning streak for Pierce, 21-3 (17 KOs), of Lawrenceville, Georgia, while Parra, 24-1-1 (18 KOs), is 10-0-1 in his past 11 fights since his lone career defeat in 2017.
The win earned Parra a minor featherweight title and could put him into legitimate world-title contention, as Pierce was rated No. 2 by the WBA and WBO at 126lbs.
The fight headlined a Manny Pacquiao Promotions card that aired live on Amazon Prime.
Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.
