Junior welterweight Ryan Martin battered veteran Carlos Velasquez from the opening bell, forcing Velasquez to remain on his stool Saturday night at the White Sands Treatment Center in Plant City, Florida.

The victory improved Martin’s record to 23-1, 13 knockouts.

Martin, who was born and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, had not fought since losing by knockout to Josh Taylor in November 2018. The fight was part of the opening round of the World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) tournament at 140 pounds, which Taylor would eventually win.

The 27-year-old Martin showed signs of ring-rust in the first round, but was mostly sharp the rest of the fight, connecting with several right hands to Velasquez’s head. The effect of Martin’s punches had Velasquez in trouble and things only got worse as Martin began to throw and land combinations with more commitment and accuracy.

During the middle rounds, Martin walked Velasquez down more, forcing him to fight off his back foot. Martin overwhelmed Velasquez in round 6 as Velasquez was in survival mode.

After the end of round 6, Velasquez remained on his stool, prompting referee Frank Gentile to wave the fight off.

Velasquez, who resides in Managua, Nicaragua, drops to 27-37-2, 17 KOs.

In middleweight action, Cecil McCalla of Randallstown, Maryland, who had not fought in over a year, dropped Nicaragua’s Matias Garcia (17-18-1, 14 KOs) twice en route to a knockout victory in the first round. After the second knockdown, referee Andrew Glenn stopped the fight at 1:33.

McCalla (22-4, 9 KOs) has won two of his last three after losing his previous three bouts.

Middleweight Christopher Galeano (11-1, 2 KOs) returned to the ring for the first time in over four years Saturday night, battering Ecuador’s Eduardo Flores until referee Frank Gentile stopped the bout at 1:33 of round 5.

Flores (26-31-4, 15 KOs) has now lost eight of his last 10 bouts.

In light heavyweight action, hard-hitting Ernest Amazu, who was born in Ghana and now resides in Pritchard, Alabama, defeated Oklahoma’s Zachariah Kelley (5-27-1, 5 KOs) by unanimous decision. All three judges scored the bout 40-36 in favor of Amazu, who improves to 26-5, 22 KOs.

Lightweight Miy Sean Mason (5-0, 3 KOs) defeated Demetrius Wilson (2-16-1) by unanimous decision over six rounds. Scores were 60-54, 60-54, and 59-55 for Mason.

In the opening bout, junior lightweight Ofacio Falcon (3-0, 3 KOs) stopped DaRon Jenkins (0-2) in the opening round.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for BoxingScene since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing