Saul Sanchez continues to thrive on the Telemundo circuit.
A quick night’s work came of Sanchez’s most recent performance, a 1st round knockout of Miami’s Frank Gonzalez in their regional bantamweight title fight. Three knockdowns came of the Telemundo-televised main event, the last of which prompted a stoppage at 1:47 of the first round Friday evening at Bryan Glazer Family JCC Auditorium in Tampa, Florida.
Sanchez was razor-sharp with his combination punching, overwhelming Gonzalez from the opening bell. A jab-right hand combination sent Gonzalez crashing to the deck barely a minute into the contest, with the second-generation boxer from Miami beating the count in his best effort to continue.
His heart was in the right place, though the wiser decision would have been to just call it a night.
Sanchez eventually made that decision for his opponent. Another flurry had Gonzalez back on the canvas, once again rising to his feet but unable to make a difference once action resumed. Sanchez continued to press the action, with a crisp combination at close quarters prompting Gonzalez to attempt clinch before slinking to the canvas. Referee Emil Lombardi opted to wave off the contest in deeming Gonzalez unfit to continue.
Gonzalez falls to 8-2 (4KOs), snapping a five-fight win streak in the process.
The early night marks Sanchez’s second consecutive 1st round knockout on Telemundo as the bantamweight prospect from Pacoima, California improves to 16-1 (9KOs) with the win, his fourth straight.
Sanchez made his network debut in similarly dominant fashion with a quick hit of fringe contender Daniel Lozano last October at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Florida. The fight took place without fans in attendance due to COVID protocol at the time, though with loosened restrictions allowing for a socially-distanced sold out crowd for Friday’s show.
Sanchez will continue to rotate between his home base in California with Thompson Boxing Promotions and on the East Coast with co-promoter All Star Boxing.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox