Henry Lundy, a former multi-time world title challenger and one of the most recognizable American veterans of the sport, has succumbed to a brutal first-round knockout loss by the hands of American prospect Ernesto Mercado who he had sought to avoid earlier. Their bout was held on April 15 at the Phoenix Center in Ontario, California.

Henry “Hank” Lundy (31-13-1, 14 KO’s), a veteran at Super Lightweight who counts only one world title challenge on his resume against Terence Crawford (39-0, 30 KO’s) in 2016 who had been the reigning WBO champion at that time at 140 lbs before eventually going on to become undisputed in the division.

Though Lundy is far from the same world title contender he was near a decade ago, he has been known in recent years as a decent gatekeeper that was well capable of testing any prospect or would-be contenders in his division. Having remained at 140 his entire career, Henry Lundy was briefly tipped to move up to Welterweight in order to face Adrien Broner (34-4-1, 24 KO’s), but their fight fell through after BLK Prime’s failure to work through a scheduled fight date between Henry Lundy and “Tito” Ernesto Mercado (10-0, 10 KO’s).

With Henry Lundy having been unable to avoid a contest with Ernesto Mercado who was and is currently still on a 100% knockout streak, the veteran was forced to face the prospect rather than Adrien Broner ― as a fight with the latter would probably entail a career-high payday for Lundy.

Ernesto Mercado was again in fine form as he dispatched Henry Lundy with a flawless set of combinations that knocked Henry Lundy out cold. It was an inevitable finish of a fighter that had previously sought to renege out of a fight with Mercado to pursue a money-making bout with Broner instead, but Lundy was likely unable to avoid a fight with the former due to legal ramifications.

Following his latest win, Mercado has yet again continued his unbeaten streak of victories which has seen him stop or knockout every opponent he’s faced thus far. Though Henry Lundy has already faded as a fighter at his current age of 39, Ernesto Mercado can be proud of himself for pulling through with a first-round victory against an experienced boxer in Lundy who would normally be able to last a couple of rounds.

With his star only growing, Ernesto Mercado can now perhaps finally make a step up to test his power with higher-ranked opponents. Though he still has a long way to go, Mercado is well on his way to becoming a contender and challenging for a title if he continues his KO streak against better and younger opponents.