Julian Rodriguez did all he could to stretch out his latest affair.

An onslaught provided by the unbeaten prospect from Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey was too much for Jose ‘Pistón’ Lopez to handle. Rodriguez scored knockdowns in every round in registering a 3rd round stoppage in their ESPN+ televised clash Saturday evening at The Bubble at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Lopez was floored four times by Rodriguez, the last of which prompted the stoppage at 2:10 of round three.

Rodriguez nearly had his second consecutive 1st round knockout—and by all accounts should have been awarded such a feat. The unbeaten talent—who recently celebrated his 26th birthday—targeted the soft midsection of Lopez, whose offense simply never got off track. A right hand followed by a left hook to the liver caused a delayed reaction knockdown, seemingly putting Lopez out for the night.

For reasons he should have to publicly explain, referee Robert Hoyle reached the count of nine and then stopped to allow Lopez time to rise from the canvas. Lopez was then instructed to walk around the ring, despite his body language suggesting he wasn’t interested in continuing to fight.

The fight did continue, with Rodriguez allowing Lopez out of the round before flooring the Mexican journeyman late in round two. Lopez cleanly beat the count this time but was not offering anything in return.

Rodriguez closed the show in round three. A right hand sent Lopez to the canvas early in the frame for the third time in the fight. He remained on a knee for Hoyle’s mandatory count before being permitted to continue. Rodriguez remained poised, catching Lopez with clean right hands and eventually willing him down for a fourth time—this time with the fight immediately stopped.

Rodriguez advances to 21-0 (14KOs), although the time has come to step up the competition. The seven-year pro has been stuck in the prospect stage but is clearly beyond the level of opposition he is being fed.

Lopez suffers his second straight defeat, falling to 29-8-2 (15KOs).

The bout served on the preliminary portion of a six-fight stream topped by Naoya Inoue (19-0, 16KOs) in a unified bantamweight title defense versus Jason Moloney (21-1, 18KOs).

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