Former WBA featherweight world champion Mauricio Lara stopped Miguel Roman in the first round of their scheduled 10-round junior lightweight contest in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Heading into their meeting, a fun and fan-friendly shootout looked on the cards but Lara, the younger man by 12 years, was in no mood to wait around.

Lara (29-3-2, 22 KOs) landed a nice right hand that dropped Roman midway through the opening round. Roman was back on his feet at the count of three.

Lara smelled blood and pressed forward, landing a perfectly timed left hook forcing Roman onto the ropes. He swarmed, connecting on another powerful left hook while Roman did his best to cover up but was visibly hurt and frantically tried using his vast fight experience to weather the storm.

That proved futile though and after being sent backwards by another left hook, the 39-year-old was mercifully stopped by the referee with 55 seconds left in the round.

Roman (71-15, 51 KOs) had promised to retire after this fight, had he lost. The two-time world title challenger didn't even have a chance to get going against a motivated former titleholder keen to return to the top table after rebuilding on the domestic circuit.

This win potentially vaults Lara back into potentially big fights at junior lightweight, which is packed full of many exciting options.

He made a name for himself as an unheralded underdog on British shores, who dropped and stopped then-unbeaten former IBF champion Josh Warrington in February 2021.

Although their rematch ended prematurely seven months later, he parlayed his earlier success into a Matchroom deal and featured on five promotional shows across three continents before news of his two-year UKAD ban became public in March.

As it was backdated to his Leigh Wood rematch defeat last year, he'll be reinstated again in March 2026 but must wait before getting the all-clear to return outside Mexico.