Prudential Center, Newark New Jersey - Unbeaten Cuban prospect Yoelvis Gomez (5-0, 5 KOs) earned a blistering first round knockout over Clay Collard (9-6-3, 4 KOs) in their super welterweight bout.

"The strategy was to go in there nice and calm, but I felt early that he could not handle my hand speed and power,” said Gomez. “I just got loose and let it go in there.”

The Havana-native Gomez hurt Collard almost instantly out of the gate, staggering him with a combination that led him to up his aggression in hopes of ending the fight early. Collard, who had made a reputation of upsetting and giving rising prospects tough challenges, was unable to recover from the early shot he took.

"I knew that he was a tough fighter, so I came prepared with this mentality to get the job done,” said Gomez. “A lot of people say that he beat good fighters, so my only goal was to take him out."

Gomez would score a knockdown in the round with a vicious left-right combo of hooks and finished the fight shortly after with a relentless flurry that forced referee Earl Brown to call off the fight 2:11 into the round.

Last year, Collard had knocked off several unbeaten prospects during Top Rank's series of show at The Bubble in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Prior to the fight with Gomez, Collard had only been stopped one other time in his career - and that fight took place at the light heavyweight limit, against dangerous puncher Bektemir Melikuziev. And it took Melikuziev four rounds to eliminate Collard.

The 24-year-old Gomez, regarded as a top prospect, turned pro in August of 2019. He's knocked off every opponent in three rounds or less.