Saul Sanchez continues to thrive on the Telemundo circuit.

A quick night’s work came of Sanchez’s most recent performance, a 1st round knockout of Miami’s Frank Gonzalez in their regional bantamweight title fight. Three knockdowns came of the Telemundo-televised main event, the last of which prompted a stoppage at 1:47 of the first round Friday evening at Bryan Glazer Family JCC Auditorium in Tampa, Florida.

Sanchez was razor-sharp with his combination punching, overwhelming Gonzalez from the opening bell. A jab-right hand combination sent Gonzalez crashing to the deck barely a minute into the contest, with the second-generation boxer from Miami beating the count in his best effort to continue.

His heart was in the right place, though the wiser decision would have been to just call it a night.

Sanchez eventually made that decision for his opponent. Another flurry had Gonzalez back on the canvas, once again rising to his feet but unable to make a difference once action resumed. Sanchez continued to press the action, with a crisp combination at close quarters prompting Gonzalez to attempt clinch before slinking to the canvas. Referee Emil Lombardi opted to wave off the contest in deeming Gonzalez unfit to continue.

Gonzalez falls to 8-2 (4KOs), snapping a five-fight win streak in the process.

The early night marks Sanchez’s second consecutive 1st round knockout on Telemundo as the bantamweight prospect from Pacoima, California improves to 16-1 (9KOs) with the win, his fourth straight.

Sanchez made his network debut in similarly dominant fashion with a quick hit of fringe contender Daniel Lozano last October at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Florida. The fight took place without fans in attendance due to COVID protocol at the time, though with loosened restrictions allowing for a socially-distanced sold out crowd for Friday’s show.

Sanchez will continue to rotate between his home base in California with Thompson Boxing Promotions and on the East Coast with co-promoter All Star Boxing.

UNDERCARD

Julio Solis drew a rise out of his local adoring fans, even if he didn’t stick around for very long for his actual fight.

The Tampa-based Boricua made frighteningly quick work of Anchorage’s Nicholas Collins, scoring two knockdowns en route to a 1st round knockout in their lightweight bout.

Solis (4-0, 4KOs) immediately took the fight to Collins (0-1, 0KO), scoring three straight left hooks before flooring him with a jab. Collins barely beat the count before being sent to the canvas seconds later courtesy of a combination. The fight was subsequently stopped at 0:35 of round one.

Local middleweight Marcus Willis threw everything he had at Guadalajara’s Aaron Garcia (16-10-1, 11KOs), ultimately settling for a lopsided decision victory in their six-round affair. Scores were 59-55, 59-55 and 60-54 for Willis (20-7-2, 6KOs), who continues a pattern of win-one, lose-one as he is now 4-3 over his last seven starts.

Richard Graham spent far more time in the ring than in his pro debut in this very venue. The local middleweight remained unbeaten by night’s end, scoring a four-round unanimous decision win over Mexico City’s Alberto Delgado (1-14-4, 1KO). Scores were was forced 39-37, 39-37, 40-36 in favor of Graham (2-0, 1KO), who had Delgado hurt courtesy of several right hands in the early going but who was ultimately forced to hear the scorecards.

Zamy Larry rebounded from his first career loss—and the pandemic—with a 1st round knockout of Saint Petersburg’s John Portal. Clearwater’s Larry (2-1, 2KOs) seemingly hurt Portal (0-1, 0KOs) with every punch he threw, twice flooring the local pro debuting super middleweight in forcing the stoppage at 1:24 of round one.

Kenny Robles picked up his sixth consecutive win, though was made to work for it every step of the way in a six-round unanimous decision over Isaac Luna. Scores were 59-55, 58-56 and 58-56 in favor of Staten Island’s Robles (8-1, 3KOs) who was the more active puncher of the two. He still had to eat plenty of leather in the process, as San Elizario, Texas’ Luna (5-3, 1KO) landed several left hooks over the course of the bout.

In the first bout of the evening, Maleik Montgomery kept his perfect knockout streak alive with a 1st round knockout of Kristopher Berberich. Montgomery (9-0, 9KOs)—am unbeaten junior lightweight prospect from Macon, Georgia—scored two knockdowns, both coming courtesy of right hands after landing several left hooks early in the contest. The latter of the two put Alaska’s Berberich (0-4, 0KOs) down and done for the night at 0:59 of round one.

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