By Thomas Gerbasi

Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York - While Erislandy Lara’s two trips to the canvas in his June win over Alfredo Angulo gave his fellow 154-pounders hope, Saturday night in Brooklyn, Lara was Lara again and former champion Austin Trout just couldn’t figure him out as he lost a lopsided unanimous decision that allowed the Cuban to retain his interim WBA super welterweight belt.

Scores were 118-109 and 117-110 twice.

The first round was primarily a jabbing contest, and not surprisingly, the boo birds made their presence known pretty quickly and they kept it going throughout round two, even if both fighters were able to score with the occasional power shot in the second frame.

The war of nerves, jabs, and clinches continued in round three, but Trout finally got a pop from the crowd when he landed a flush right to the face in the fourth stanza. Neither fighter was doing much to win over the people on a consistent basis though, as there was more feinting and posing than fighting.

To his credit, Trout tried to press the action in the fifth, but Lara wasn’t having it. It was the Cuban who scored with the two best punches of the frame, a pair of flush counters in the closing seconds, adding another round to the bank.

Lara rocked Trout with a left late in round six, probably his best punch of the fight to that point, and he likely told him about it as he jawed at the New Mexico native after the bell.

As the second half of the bout began, the Cuban wizard continued to baffle Trout, and in the eighth he began tagging his foe with hard overhand lefts, with the occasional right tossed in for good measure.

Trout made another run at Lara in the ninth, but his efforts were clearly coming up short against the Cuban, who looked like he was in the middle of a sparring session, and not a championship fight. But in the 11th, Lara unleashed a thudding left hand to the head, waking up the crowd and dropping Trout to the canvas. It was the icing on the cake for Lara’s dominant win, which upped his record to 19-1-2 with 12 KOs. Trout falls to 26-2 with 14 KOs.