ONTARIO, California – Terrell Gausha got an emphatic victory Saturday night in his first fight since Tim Tszyu beat him 11 months ago.

The junior middleweight contender dropped Brandyn Lynch three times early in the ninth round and stopped him on the Brandon Figueroa-Mark Magsayo undercard at Toyota Arena. Referee Jerry Cantu stopped their scheduled 10-round, 156-pound bout 50 seconds into the ninth round of a fight Showtime streamed on its YouTube channel.

Gausha, a Cleveland native, first floored Lynch with a right hand that knocked him flat on his back only 11 seconds into the ninth round. Lynch was disoriented after beating Cantu’s count and Gausha quickly dropped him again with another right hand 20 seconds later.

Lynch didn’t seem like he was in condition to continue, but Cantu brought the fighters together again. Another right hand by Gausha sent Lynch to the canvas for the third time.

Cantu called an end to the action as soon as Lynch went down the third time.

The 35-year-old Gausha, a 2012 U.S. Olympian, moved to 23-3-1 and produced his 12th knockout. Los Angeles’ Lynch (12-2-1, 9 KOs, 2 NC), a nephew of Eddie Murphy, suffered the second knockout defeat of his career.

Gausha was ahead on the scorecards through eight rounds and appeared well on his way to convincing points victory before he hurt Lynch badly early in the ninth round.

Gausha drilled Lynch with a straight right that backed him up after the midway mark of the seventh round. Gausha’s short left hook connected barely 30 seconds into the seventh round.

A left hook by Gausha caused Lynch to move away from him with just under 50 seconds on the clock in the sixth round. Lynch and Gausha traded hard right hands in an exchange with about 1:20 remaining in the sixth round.

Gausha caught Lynch with a right hand that affected him approximately 1:15 into the fifth round.

Lynch landed a left to the body that made Gausha hold him with about 30 second remaining in the fourth round. Gausha drilled Lynch with a right hand that landed with just under 1:20 to go in the fourth round.

A right hand by Lynch backed up Gausha with 35 seconds on the clock in the third round. Gausha controlled much of the third round with his jab before Lynch became more offensive toward the end of it.

Gausha’s right hand made Lynch reset his feet 45 seconds into the opening round. Another right hand by Gausha made Lunch move away from him with just under 30 seconds to go in the first round.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.