Rowdy Legend Montgomery made the most of a short notice opportunity.

The 36-year-old trialhorse from Victorville, California outworked Mexicali’s Cristian Olivas en route to a decision win in their eight-round super middleweight contest. Judges Rudy Barragan (79-73), Jerry Cantu (79-73) and Dr. Lou Moret (80-72) all scored in favor of Montgomery in their DAZN opener Saturday evening from Fox Theater in Pomona, California.  

Olivas jumped out to a solid start but quickly fell behind once Montgomery found his offensive groove. The shift in momentum came in round three, when Montgomery—who replaced rising prospect Aaron Silva on just nine days’ notice—connected with a left hook to the body. Olivas remained upright but did not respond well to the shot or to Montgomery’s surge in punch activity.

Montgomery was consistent with his straight right hand along with the occasional left hook, as he was credited with landing 120-of-341 total punches (35.2%) according to Compubox's unofficial punch stats. Olivas (22-9, 19KOs) managed left hooks upstairs but was few and far between in those moments in landing just 77-of-275 total punches (28%), as he ended a two-fight win streak.

The victory for Montgomery (9-4-1, 6KOs) marked the first time since 2018 where he enjoys a win streak of two fights or longer. He entered Saturday’s contest having won just three of his last six starts.  

Headlining the show, Tijuana’s Luis Nery (33-1, 25KOs) and Azat Hovhannisyan (21-3, 17KOs)—an Armenian based out of Glendale, California—meet in a scheduled 12-round WBC junior featherweight title eliminator.

Off-TV:

Andrii Novytskyi (1-0, 1KOs) enjoyed a successful pro debut with a first-round knockout of Brazil's Gabriel Costa (1-4, 0KOs). The 6'6" Ukrainian heavyweight needed just 82 seconds to register his first pro win. 

Hawaii's Asa Stevens (4-0, 2KOs) picked up his second career stoppage when Nicaragua's Jenn Gonzalez (9-17-1, 5KOs) was unable to come out of his corner prior to the start of round three in their featherweight bout. 

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