Mayweather Scores a Knockout : Boxing: Former champion returns to Forum after three years and stops De La Cruz in the second round.

It did not take long for super lightweight Roger Mayweather to show Los Angeles that he is back.

Before a Forum crowd of 5,138 Monday night, Mayweather knocked out Pedro De La Cruz of Mexico 2:32 into the second round to improve to 41-7 with 26 knockouts.

It was the two-time former world champion’s first fight since losing an International Boxing Federation title bout to Rafael Pineda of Columbia in December and his first bout in the Southland in three years.

Mayweather dominated De La Cruz (11-6-1) from the opening bell with sharp lefts and hook combinations.

“I think (De La Cruz) feared my experience more than the punch itself,” said Mayweather after knocking De La Cruz out with a left uppercut. “He allowed me to come right in and I wanted to throw a lot of combinations together.”

For Mayweather, it was his first fight in the Los Angeles area since a loss to Julio Cesar Chavez in May of 1989. That defeat, his second career loss to Chavez, ended a Southland streak during which he won six consecutive bouts.

Mayweather, 31, did not prepare much for De La Cruz during his long layoff because of a broken a right hand that had bothered him the last few years.

“It had been along time since I had two hands to fight with,” said Mayweather, who has been fighting professionally for 11 years. “It felt good to throw the right hand again.”

Next up for Mayweather might be a fight against Carlos Gonzalez of Mexico, who is 32-0 with 30 knockouts and is the WBO 140-pound champion.

In an another super lightweight bout, Kenyan David Kamau defeated Danny Perez of Paramount by technical knockout 1:24 into the seventh round.

Kamau, who improved to 17-0 with 14 knockouts, started slow but was able to take advantage of his longer reach to frustrate Perez, who dropped to 14-3. Kamau’s left jab that set up effective hook and uppercut combinations.

Kamau, who trains in Los Angeles, suffered a cut below his right eye during the fifth round but was able to win the round thanks to several hard right hands in the final minute.

In the sixth, after a head butt that opened a cut above Perez’s left eye, Kamau nearly ended the fight with three rights. He then stopped Perez early in seventh with two strong left jab-right hook combinations.

“I felt that I had to keep coming stronger and stronger as the fight went on,” said Kamau, who knocked out De La Cruz in November. “When I saw the cut in the sixth round, I knew I had to get him now.”

In a heavyweight bout, Alex Garcia of Los Angeles improved to 25-1 with a second-round knockout over Arthur Weathers of Louisville.

Garcia, who has 20 knockouts, knocked Weathers (18-6) down during the first round with a right hook before ending the fight with a short left hook 1:53 into the second.

“I went into the fight trying to take my time, but I knew sooner or later he’d run into the left hook,” said Garcia, who suffered a forehead cut after a butt early in the second round. “I caught him stepping in throwing his left. I felt it in my foot.”