A trainer switch seems to have brought out the best of Eric Priest.

Early returns were found in a first-round knockout of Paul Mendez. The unbeaten Kansas native scored two knockdowns en route to a stoppage at 2:09 of the first round of their middleweight contest Thursday evening on DAZN from Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California.

The bout was the second for Priest under the tutelage of Ismael Salas and his first full camp under the gifted Las Vegas-headquartered cornerman. Priest lost his power edge in his previous two outings, including an eight-round majority decision over Simon Madsen on September 16 in Commerce, California.

Mendez (21-5-2, 11KOs) was floored with a right hand early in the fight but managed to beat the count. Priest picked up the tempo but never to the point of recklessness. He closed the show with a body shot and cleanup right hand which forced Mendez to the canvas, by which point referee Edward Hernandez Sr. waved off the contest.

The win ran Priest’s record to 12-0 (8KOs). The stoppage was his first in more than a year, which came versus a sub .500 fighter last November in Carson, California. The 25-year-old Korean-American won all three fights inside the distance in 2022 but went the full eight rounds in each of his two starts this year prior to Thursday’s co-feature bout.

A step up in class is expected in the year ahead but will come with a newfound confidence from Priest as he has fully bought into the teachings of Salas.

“We’ve been practicing that right hand, that slip and jab,” Priest told Golden Boy’s Brandi Flores after the win. “We saw the opening but wanted to be smart.

“We’re just gonna keep growing, keep developing. 2024 we’re gonna hit the ground running.”

Headlining the show, unbeaten 24-year-old prospect Tito Sanchez (11-0, 7KOs) of Cathedral City, California faces red-hot spoiler Walter Santibanes (12-2, 2KOs) in a scheduled ten-round featherweight contest.  

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox