CARSON, California – Carlos Adames dismantled Juan Macias Monitel in a way Saturday night that Jermall Charlo couldn’t beat the Mexican contender 15 months ago.

Adames drilled Montiel with a right hook that badly hurt him late in the third round, followed up with a barrage of power punches and made referee Ray Corona stop their 12-round fight for the WBC interim middleweight title at Dignity Health Sports Park. Montiel was still standing when Corona halted their bout and protested Corona’s call.

The official time of the stoppage was 2:37 of the third round.

By winning the WBC interim title in this “Showtime Championship Boxing” co-feature, the Dominican Republic’s Adames (22-1, 17 KOs) moved into position to eventually get a shot at Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs), the WBC’s 160-pound champion. Adames already was the WBC’s number one contender in the 160-pound division.

The sixth-ranked Montiel (23-6-2, 23 KOs), of Los Mochis, Mexico, gave Charlo a difficult fight, but he lost a 12-round unanimous decision in June 2021 at Toyota Center in Houston, Charlo’s hometown. Montiel, 28, lost by knockout for the second time in his career and for the first time since Jaime Munguia viciously knocked him out late in the second round of their welterweight bout in February 2017.

Corona warned Adames for a low blow a little less than 40 seconds into the third round. That didn’t prevent Adames from hammering Montiel to his body later in the third round.

A right hook by Adames also turned Montiel around a little less than a minute before he caught Montiel with the shot that led to the technical knockout. The fight-changing punch that made Montiel stumble awkwardly landed with about 35 seconds to go in the third round.

Adames landed a thudding left to Montiel’s body about 30 seconds into the second round. With just under 1:40 on the clock in the second round, Adames blasted Montiel with a left hand to his head.

About a minute later, Adames landed another left up top and backed out of Montiel’s punching range. One of Adames’ punches also caused a scrape and some swelling beneath his left eye.

Adames and Monitel drew boos from the sparse crowd halfway through a first round that lacked action. Fans booed again after the first round concluded.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.