Lucas Browne breathed new life into his troubled career.

The 43-year old heavyweight from Perth Australia, picked up his biggest win in years, twice flooring New Zealand’s Junior Fa en route to a stunning first round knockout. Fa was decked midway through the round and again mere moments later, prompting a stoppage at 1:58 in the first round of their ESPN-televised opener Saturday evening (Sunday afternoon local time) from Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia.

The fight was supposed to fall in the rich tradition of Australia versus New Zealand but never had a chance to get going. Browne came out with knockout intentions from the opening bell, while Fa struggled to find his offensive stroke.

Browne had Fa in massive trouble courtesy of an overhand right. Fa staggered before collapsing to the canvas, wobbly as he barely made it to his feet. The 32-year-old was still on unsteady legs and seemingly unaware of his surroundings though referee Jeffrey Eddy allowed the action to continue.

It didn’t last much longer.

Browne wisely went on the attack, connecting with a final right hand to close the show. The shot appeared to land behind the head of Fa, though ruled a legal blow and this time with the referee not allowing the bout to continue.

Fa suffers his second straight defeat, falling to 19-2 (10KOs). He entered unbeaten prior to an all New Zealand showdown with former WBO heavyweight titlist Joseph Parker, dropping a twelve-round, unanimous decision last February in Auckland.

Browne suffered all three career defeats in a span of seven fights—all coming after having previously claimed a secondary version of the WBA heavyweight title before being stripped due to testing positive for a banned substance.

Knockout losses to Dillian Whyte and David Allen demoted Browne to fringe contender status, with a stunning first-round knockout loss to unbeaten countryman Paul Gallen last April appearing to be the end of his relevance as a heavyweight player. The win over Fa resurrects his fledging career, with Browne advancing to 31-3 (27KOs).

Headlining the show, Sydney-based lineal/WBA/IBF/WBO lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr. (20-0, 10KOs) faces WBC lightweight titlist Devin Haney (27-0, 15KOs) of Las Vegas, for the undisputed championship.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox