Former Cuban amateur stars Erislandy Lara and Yordanis Despaigne won separate bouts in dominating, but different fashion on an ESPN2-televised card Wednesday night from Monroe, La.

Lara (13-0, 7 knockouts), a slick southpaw junior middleweight prospect, blasted journeyman Willie Lee in the first round of the scheduled 10-round main event of a special Wednesday Night Fights broadcast.

Lara, engaging in his second fight with new trainer Ronnie Shields, put Lee (17-7, 11 KOs) down with a right-left-right combination midway through the opening round. The Louisiana native got up but was quickly overwhelmed against the ropes, forcing referee Laurence Cole to halt the bout.

Despaigne (7-0, 4 KOs), a technically-sound light heavyweight physical specimen, dropped previously undefeated Frank Paine (11-1, 10 KOs) with a short left hook in the second round en route to a one-sided 10-round unanimous-decision victory.

Despaigne, who won by scores of 100-89, 99-90 and 96-93, outclassed, outboxed and outworked Paine, a game Southern California-based Colombian slugger.