New champion Sergio Mendoza shocks Ricardo Sandoval with three knockdowns

“All the hard work paid off. I’m a natural 112-pounder and this showed it,” said Mendoza, who credited the isolation of training for focusing him on the task at hand.

“I have no family, no friends, but I’ve got my team and I was focused to win. 

Mendoza stunningly dropped Sandoval twice in the second round, following a flash knockdown on a right hand to the face with a destructive left uppercut to the chin.

The taller Mendoza again wobbled Sandoval, 27-3, in the third as the Californian seemed weakened by his 15-month layoff since claiming two 112lbs belts.

Mendoza landed the title shot only six months after losing the IBF light-flyweight title fight in Japan to Thailand’s Thanongsak Simsri by second-round knockout.

“I knew my power would be effective at 112 and it was. I had him hurt, but he was motivated and prepared, and I got him out of there. All the sacrifice paid off. Being away from my family was hard.”

Sandoval, of Rialto, California, captured the unified WBC/WBA flyweight title in Japan in July 2025 versus Kenshiro Teraji. Sandoval was supposed to fight minimumweight champion Oscar Collazo Saturday, but Collazo suffered an injury and withdrew.

Mendoza presented a far different style, standing six inches taller than Collazo while possessing 6 ½ inches more reach.

Promoter Oscar De La Hoya told BoxingScene, “Amazing surprise … the kid [Mendoza] had like seven days’ notice to replace Collazo. Incredible KO of Sandoval.”

In the fifth, Mendoza dropped Sandoval again and the referee surged in to stop the fight when Mendoza rushed from the knockdown to send a decisive flurry as Sandoval’s resistance waned and the stoppage came 1:46 into the fifth to make Mendoza the latest world champion from his home country.

“I’m in shock right now,” Mendoza said. “Viva Mexico!”

Earlier, Maryland lightweight Jahmahl Harvey produced a stirring third-round knockout of Pedro Castaneda, 9-2-1, to improve to 5-0.

Delivering a wicked left-handed blast to the jaw, Harvey scored his fourth knockout 1:08 into the frame.

Southpaw Harvey, a 2024 U.S.Olympic quarterfinalist, flashed impressive hand speed against the part-time soccer player from Mexico, working the body impressively in the second.

That volume made it unlikely that Harvey would need all the rounds booked for him in his debut eight-round affair.

“Everything was clicking … working to the jab, he could never tell where I was going with my shots,” Harvey said. “I didn’t throw [the final blow] to knock him out … I saw his eyes. I knew he was hurt.” 

Puerto Rico’s Jan Paul Rivera dominated Abraham Perfecto in the DAZN main-card opener, winning by three scores of 99-89.  

Rivera decked Mexico’s Perfecto, 14-3, with a second-round left hook to the chin and worked to set him up later with body shots followed by a head blow.

A prospect in Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions stable who’s fought four times this year, Rivera, 17-0, slowed down Perfecto with the hurtful body work.

Rivera’s cruise-control road to victory was only slowed by a dubious ninth-round point deduction for a low blow.

Rivera is the WBO’s No.14-ranked super-featherweight contender.

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