Erickson Lubin continues to roll.
The junior middleweight contender gave the most impressive performance of his career on the Gervonta Davis-Mario Barrios card Saturday in Atlanta, stopping former titleholder Jeison Rosario in six rounds.
The stoppage was the result of body blows midway through the final round, a left that landed somewhat below the belt and right that hurt Rosario badly.
The Dominican, in obvious pain, dropped to all fours but was able to get to his feet. Moments later, with Rosario’s back against the ropes, Lubin put Rosario down again with a straight left and he couldn’t continue.
The fight was stopped at 1:42 of Round 6.
Lubin (24-1, 17 KOs) controlled the early rounds with his right jab, consistently following with power punches to both the head and body as Rosario was searching for a way to cope.
Then, in Round 4, Lubin found himself in trouble. Rosario seemed to rock him with a left jab with about 20 seconds to go in the round. He survived and then got back to work in a competitive Round 5, in which he seemed to land the cleaner punches.
And he finished the show the following round, claiming his sixth victory since he was stopped in the first round by 154-pound titleholder Jermell Charlo in October 2017.
Lubin has beaten in succession Nathaniel Galimore, Terrell Gausha and Rosario, putting him in prime position to challenge the winner of the Charlo-Brian Castano title-unification bout, which is set for July 17.
Rosario (20-3-1, 14 KOs) burst onto the scene by stopping Julian Williams in five rounds to capture a junior middleweight bout. However, he lost it by eighth-round stoppage to Charlo in his subsequent fight.
The loss on Saturday was his second in a row, which will make his climb back to title contention difficult.