Boxing: Junior Fa scores impressive knockout against Fred Latham

Kiwi up and coming heavyweight Junior Fa. Photo / Photosport

Rising New Zealand heavyweight Junior Fa has scored the most impressive victory of his career, knocking out American Fred Latham in the first round of their fight in the United States today.

Fa's win in Ohio in front of his influential promoter Lou DiBella came after only 67 seconds and left Latham, who had been backed into a corner, in a bad state.

The trouble for the previously undefeated Latham began almost immediately when Fa scored with a beautifully-timed one-two which backed his opponent against the ropes and the New Zealander wasted little time in taking advantage of his dominance.

Fa's hand-speed and punch selection were both very impressive as he poured on the pressure in a rain of blows. Referee Clifford Pinkney had no option but to stop the fight and perhaps could have stopped it earlier as Latham caught successive blows on the chin at the end which left him slumped against the ropes.

Fa's undefeated record improves to 13 victories (eight knockouts), and this was a significant one because it showed his improvement. Fa declared himself unhappy with his last performance, a unanimous decision over six rounds against Australian journeyman Hunter Sam in Auckland.

This time he looked in better physical shape and certainly quicker in terms of hand speed. But perhaps more important was the stunning way he finished it. Crowds and television audiences like knockouts and a few more of these sorts of performances won't do any harm to his reputation and drawing power.

This was his second fight in the United States after his alliance with American promoter DiBella, the New Yorker who also promotes WBC heavyweight world champion Deontay Wilder.

At 1.96m, the 28-year-old Fa is a good size for a heavyweight - taller by two centimetres than his Kiwi rival Joseph Parker, the WBO world heavyweight champion whom he famously beat as an amateur.

Fa's aim is to continue to build his profile in the United States while upping his ranking with the WBO organisation before a possible all-Kiwi fight against Parker.

"If he [Parker] still has the belt, it would be a great domestic world championship fight in New Zealand," Fa told TVNZ recently.

Fa's victory in a bout scheduled for eight rounds was the second of four fights televised by the Showtime network, an event put on to highlight the talent of a new generation of boxers.