Galal Yafai stopped Agustin Gauto in the 10th round of a flyweight slugfest Saturday at Fontainebleau Las Vegas, on the undercard of a Richardson Hitchins-Gustavo Lemos main event.

Yafai (7-0, 5 KOs), a gold medalist at the 2020 Olympics from the United Kingdom, appeared to be set for an early night when he staggered Gauto (21-2, 15 KOs) in the first round with a straight left hand that split his opponent’s guard.

The fight took a turn thereafter.

“I get too excited,” Yafai, 31, said in his postfight interview on the DAZN broadcast. “That could probably be my downfall in the future. Hopefully it’s not.”

Through three rounds, Yafai was breaking down the 26-year-old Gauto, of Argentina. Yafai landed clean, hard shots while Gauto struggled to generate much in response. After four, the ringside doctor was already examining Gauto, though the fighter was allowed to continue. 

Gradually, the tide of the fight turned. Gauto started to land hard overhand counters. Yafai reacted to the first two with grins, but as the rounds progressed, the smiles disappeared. 

An accidental head clash opened a cut above Yafai’s left eye. Gauto tried to seize the momentum, coming forward at times and landing the occasional eye-catching shot. But through it all, the Argentinian was taking a beating.

In the eighth round, Yafai landed clean shots with alarming succession. Gauto wasn’t breaking, but he was buckling, and Yafai’s high work rate ensured that his opponent had no reprieve.

Gauto never stopped throwing back, but at 2:40 in the eighth, referee Raul Caiz Jr. saved Yafai’s tough opponent from himself and stopped the fight. Under other circumstances, the stoppage might have come early, but the beating Gauto had taken to that point more than justified it. 

Gauto landed his power punches at a higher rate, but Yafai’s greater output ensured that he landed more overall, 136 to 89.