By Jake Donovan

A win would have put Alejandro Hernandez back in title contention. Instead, a single left hook shot put him on the wrong side of one of the bigger upsets in 2016 as Emmanuel Dominguez stormed to a shocking 4th round knockout victory Friday evening at Auditorio Blackberry in Mexico City, Mexico. 

Dominguez ended the Telemundo-televised headliner in an instant, with a left hook to the liver putting Hernandez down and out for the full 10-count at 1:20 of round four. 

The night represented a major step up in class for Dominguez, who came in 6-2-1 in his past nine starts but facing largely nondescript competition. Still, the 22-year old from Aguascalientes was brimming with confidence and unfazed by the contender credentials carried by his more celebrated opponent. 

One look at Hernandez' record can tell you that the veteran boxer from Mexico City knows better than to assume any given fight as an automatic win. The 30-year old former bantamweight contender and title challenger has come up the hard way to get to this point in his career, but is possibly looking at another rebuilding tour. 

It didn't begin that way for Hernandez, who came out as if it were any other night at the office. You can't fault the boxer for being comfortable in his surroundings, as he was fighting for the fourth straight time in this venue and whose last loss in Mexico came in Jan. '12 to Leo Santa Cruz, at the time an unbeaten prospect still five months away from his first world title win. 

Santa Cruz was also responsible for providing Hernandez with his lone stoppage loss, although that came via injury. The iron-chinned boxer had never been dropped through 44 pro starts, but that changed in a hurry during Friday's main event, the first of the 2016 Boxeo Telemundo fall season. 

Visions of a second career title shot had been on Hernandez' mind ever since coming up just short versus then-unbeaten bantamweight titlist Tomoki Kameda in Nov. '14. While it's doubtful that Dominguez will even head to a first title shot any time soon, it can be said with great certainty that Friday's verdict knocks Hernandez even further down in the pecking order.

The veteran boxer was caught off guard when a perfectly-placed left hook to the liver forced him to his knees. Hernandez tried in vain to shake off the blow, but was still on the canvas as the referee reached the end of his 10-count to signal the end of the fight.

The official time was 1:20 of round four.

Dominguez advances to 19-5-2 (12KOs), having now won three straight - all coming in 2016, as well as a split decision loss at this very venue back in March. Hernandez falls to 31-12-3 (16KOs), suffering his first defeat in 23 months.  

Twitter: @JakeNDaBox_v2