WASHINGTON, D.C. — Now Oscar Escandon can finally see his newborn daughter.

Escandon, who missed his daughter’s birth last month to keep focused in training, rose from a knockdown to stop upset-specialist Robinson Castellanos with a vicious right uppercut at 2:59 seconds of the seventh round Saturday at the DC Armory. Escandon will now earn a date with the winner of Gary Russell’s WBC featherweight title bout with Patrick Hyland on April 16.

“I feel very happy about this victory,” Escandon said afterward. “It’s been a long time coming and I’m very proud to take the title back to my country. Robinson is a very tough guy. He came to fight, but my training camp showed in this event. I’ve been trying very hard, sacrificing a lot to be at this stage if my career, including spending time with my family.”

Escandon was dropped in the second round by a one-two combination from Castellanos. It was a flash knockdown and he completed the round without any issues.

“When I was dropped the first time it was just a sting,” said Escandon, who lost a split decision to Moises Flores last April in a bid for a junior featherweight title. “I didn’t get hurt and I realize that I needed to fight with more intelligence to make sure I secured this victory.”

Escandon returned the favor as Castellanos was cut badly over the left eye, causing the ringside physician to examine him with 2:07 left in the fifth round. It wasn’t clear ringside if the cut was caused by a clash of heads or a punch. When the bout resumed, Castellanos appeared to touch his glove on the canvas after absorbing a blow but the referee Frank Garza ruled it a slip.

The tables had turned for good as Escandon continued to bully Castellanos around the ring. In the seventh, the bulldoggish Escandon hurt Castellanos toward the end of the round and finished him with a right uppercut. Castellanos was counted after the round had already ended.

“I’m very disappointed but I gave it my all,” said Castellanos, who had recorded two straight upsets to reach this position. “I felt like I fought with a lot of heart and that’s really all you can do. Unfortunately, the outcome wasn’t what I personally wanted but I respect Oscar. He’s a good fighter. He was very fast and caught me with some good shots. Has a big heart and I wish him the best.”

In other undercard action, Washington D.C.’s Lamont Roach Jr. pounded out a workmanlike decision over game Jesus Lule in an eight-round scheduled lightweight bout. Roach, who dropped Lule in the first round, won by scores of 78-73, 79-72 and 80-72 to improve his record to 10-0 (3 KOs) while Florida’s Lule dropped to 8-16-1 (1 KO).

After Marco Lopez (23-8, 14 KOs) was denied a license to fight in New York last week over issues with his blood work on the Terence Crawford-Hank Lundy card, the D.C. commission opted not to let his fight go forward with Rashidi Ellis (14-0, 11 KOs) on Saturday’s undercard because of related issues and the fight was scrapped, Golden Boy matchmaker Robert Diaz said.

Both the Escandon-Castellanos and Roach-Lule fight can be watch on-demand at RingTVLive.com.