NEW YORK — Sergio Mendoza shocked Ricardo Sandoval with three knockdowns to claim the unified WBC and WBA flyweight titles Saturday, scoring a fifth-round TKO at 1:46 of the round as a late replacement. Mendoza, 28-1 (24 KOs), dedicated the victory to a brother who recently passed away and delivered what may be the upset of the year against Sandoval, 27-3.
Mendoza dropped Sandoval twice in the second round, first with a flash knockdown on a right hand to the face and then with a destructive left uppercut to the chin. He wobbled the champion again in the third. "All the hard work paid off. I'm a natural 112-pounder and this showed it," Mendoza said. "I have no family, no friends, but I've got my team and I was focused to win."
Sandoval, of Rialto, California, had captured the unified titles in Japan in July 2025 against Kenshiro Teraji and was coming off a 15-month layoff. He was scheduled to face minimumweight champion Oscar Collazo Saturday before Collazo withdrew with an injury. Mendoza took the fight on seven days' notice and presented a far different look, standing six inches taller than Collazo with 6 1/2 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." Mendoza, who lost an IBF light-flyweight title fight in Japan six months earlier to Thailand's Thanongsak Simsri by second-round knockout, added, "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." In the fifth, he dropped Sandoval again and rushed in with a decisive flurry to force the stoppage. "I'm in shock right now," Mendoza said. "Viva Mexico!"
Earlier, Maryland lightweight Jahmahl Harvey improved to 5-0 with a third-round knockout of Pedro Castaneda, 9-2-1, at 1:08 of the frame. The southpaw and 2024 U.S. Olympic quarterfinalist scored his fourth knockout with a wicked left-handed blast to the jaw after working the body impressively in the second round of his debut eight-round bout. "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." Castaneda is a part-time soccer player from Mexico.
Puerto Rico's Jan Paul Rivera dominated Abraham Perfecto in the DAZN main-card opener, winning by three scores of 99-89 to move to 17-0. Rivera, a prospect in Jake Paul's Most Valuable Promotions stable fighting for the fourth time this year, decked Mexico's Perfecto, 14-3, with a second-round left hook to the chin and slowed him with sustained body work. His cruise-control victory was only interrupted by a dubious ninth-round point deduction for a low blow. Rivera is the WBO's No. 14-ranked super-featherweight contender.