Eimantas Stanionis looked like a welterweight with a future on Wednesday in Los Angeles.
The 2016 Olympian from Lithuania methodically broke down overmatched Justin DeLoach before stopping him at 2:53 of the ninth round in his first televised main event.
DeLoach (19-5, 10 KOs) is a decent boxer but he doesn’t have a sturdy chin, which is the wrong liability against a strapping opponent like Stanionis (11-0, 8 KOs).
Stanionis, an imposing figure, walked down DeLoach from the opening bell. At first, he limited his attack to mostly his sharp jab, left hooks and body shots. He then gradually worked his right hand to complete his multi-pronged attack.
DeLoach, tall and athletic, had some success early in the fight, using his own jab, following with some power shots and trying to use lateral movement to keep a safe distance.
However, Stanionis, simply better and much stronger, gradually wore him down and began to land big shots with consistency.
He connected on a big left hook that staggered DeLoach with about 30 seconds remaining in Round 7 and followed with a vicious volley of bombs in attempt to finish the job. He ran out of time but it was clear that DeLoach was in trouble.
In Round 9, Stanionis hurt DeLoach with a right and then put him down with a follow up barrage. DeLoach was game. He got up and tried to hold Stanionis in an attempt to recover but ended on the canvas again from an assortment of hard shots.
Once again he got to his feet but, after DeLoach absorbed only a few more hard shots, referee Ray Corona saved him from further punishment.
Stanionis was leading on all three cards after eight rounds, 78-74, 78-74 and 77-75. Boxing Junkie had it 78-74 (six rounds to two) for Stanionis.