Antonio DeMarco earned a knockout victory when Almazbek “Kid Diamond” Raiymkulov quit after the ninth round of a scheduled 12-round lightweight bout on the undercard of the Vic Darchinyan-Jorge Arce fight Saturday in Anaheim, Calif..

DeMarco was winning the spirited, blood-filled fight on two of the three cards when it was stopped by Raiymkulov’s corner. The fighters both suffered cuts from accidental head butts early in the fight, which didn’t seem to have a bearing on the result.

The Mexican fighter (21-1-1, 15 knockouts) had a big ninth round, hurting Raiymkulov (27-3-1, 15 KOs) with a barrage of hard, accurate punches moments before the bell rang. And that was that; Raiymkulov couldn’t go on.

Afterward, Raiymkulov said he was battling fly symptoms and ran out of energy by the sixth round.

DeMarco said he believed the fight was closer than it actually was, one reason he poured it on in the ninth round. He was ahead 88-83 on two cards and behind 86-85 on the third.

“I knew I had to give it my all in that last round,” he said.

This was significant victory for DeMarco, ranked No. 7 by the WBC. Raiymkulov is a seasoned veteran of big-time fights. In 2005, he drew with Joel Casamayor in a WBC lightweight title eliminator.

Now, DeMarco wants to take the next step up in competition.

“I’ve been a dreamer all my life,” said the Tijuana resident. “I’m going to keep dreaming of championships.”

In other bouts, Vanes Martirosyan (23-0, 14 KOs) of Glendale, Calif., defeated tough, but overmatched Billy Lyell (18-7, three KOs) of Youngstown, Ohio, by a one-sided unanimous decision in a 10-round super welterweight bout.

Martirosyan might’ve broken his right hand early in the fight, according to his promotional company.

Chris Avalos (9-0, seven KOs) of San Diego scored a KO victory when his fight with Torrance Daniels (12-9-1, five KOs) of Denver, Colo., was stopped on the advice of the ringside physician after the seventh round of a scheduled eight-round bantamweight fight.

Omar Henry (3-0, three KOs) of Houston knocked out Francisco Martinez (0-3) of Moreno Valley, Calf., 57 seconds into a scheduled four-round middleweight bout.

And heavyweight prospect Travis Kauffman (15-0, 12 KOs) of Reading, Pa., stopped journeyman Cliff Couser (26-18-2, 14 KOs) of Las Vegas 2:41 into a scheduled six-round fight.