ONTARIO, California – Eimantas Stanionis stalked and battered Julio Cesar Sanchez until referee Ray Corona saw enough Saturday.
Stanionis battered Sanchez to the body for two-plus rounds, made him go down in the third round and eventually caused Corona to step in to save Sanchez from taking unnecessary punishment. Corona stopped their scheduled eight-round welterweight bout at 2:05 of the third round on the Tony Harrison-Jermell Charlo undercard at Toyota Arena.
Lithuania’s Stanionis improved to 10-0 and recorded his seventh knockout. Sanchez, a native Dominican who resides in Queens, fell to 11-3.
A left to the body by Stanionis slumped Sanchez against the ropes, which counted as a knockdown in the third round.
Stanionis didn’t waste any time unloading a barrage of power punches on his hurt opponent. That’s when Corona moved between them to stop the fight.
Stanionis spent the first two rounds following Sanchez around the ring and hammering him with body shots. An overhand right to the head by Stanionis affected Sanchez late in the second round, but Sanchez made it to the third round.
Sanchez lost his third straight fight, his second in a row by knockout.
In the opener of the 15-bout card, Adrian Taylor out-pointed German Perez by unanimous decision in a six-round heavyweight fight. Dallas’ Taylor (11-1, 4 KOs) easily beat Mexico’s Perez (11-7-3) by the same score, 60-54.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.