Dejan Zlaticanin stopped Franklin Mamani in the third round to win the vacant WBC lightweight title on Saturday in Verona, New York.

Zlaticanin (22-0, 15 knockouts) hurt Mamani (21-3-1, 12 KOs) with a left to the temple early in the final round. Manani went down moments later but it was ruled a slip. Didn’t matter. Zlaticanin followed with a brutal barrage that prompted referee Charlie Fitch to stop the fight 54 seconds into the round.

Zlaticanin became the first fighter from Montenegro to win a major world title.

Zlaticanin had been scheduled to face then-WBC titleholder Jorge Linares earlier this year but that fight was canceled when Linares broke his hand in training. Linares was then designated the WBC’s “champion in recess” while he recovered.

Linares is negotiating to fight WBA titleholder Anthony Crolla in the fall. The winner of that fight would in effect become Zlaticanin’s mandatory challenger.