Diego Magdaleno predicted he would stop opponent Hevinison Herrera in the first round during the pre-fight interview to “Solo Boxeo Tecate” headliner televised on UniMas.

He ended up being off by two rounds.

Magdaleno knocked out Herrera in Round 3 of a 10-round lightweight bout at the Events Center in Pharr, Texas on Saturday.

Magdaleno (27-1, 11 knockouts) has now won four bouts since the split decision loss to Roman “Rocky” Martinez last April.

The southpaw went on the attack from the opening bell, putting Herrera on the defensive. Magdaleno rarely threw a jab, landing with lead hooks and crosses.

Herrera switched from conventional to southpaw at the start of the third round and tried to counter Magdaleno’s offense. The change did little to thwart Magdaleno, who continued to punish Herrera.

After the midway point of the round, Magdaleno dropped Herrera with a straight left, right hook to the head. Herrera got up and tried to rally from the knockdown. With about 20 seconds left in the round, Magdaleno land a looping right hook that dropped Herrera to one knee. Herrera remained on the canvas as referee Lee Rogers counted him out at 2:53.

After the fight, Magdaleno said he was ready to fight for a world title. Colombia-born Herrera drops to 17-10-1, 11 KOs.

In other televised bouts:

– Opening the UniMas broadcast, junior middleweight John Vera (7-0, 3 KOs) won a six round majority decision over Alberto Robles (3-0, 1 KO). One judge scored the bout 57-57, while the other two judges scored the bout 58-56 in favor of Vera.

– Junior lightweight Luis Castro (6-1, 4 KOs) dropped Eduardo Garza (1-1, 1 KO) in the first round on his way to a unanimous decision over four rounds. Garza rallied late in the fight, but lost 39-36 on all three judges’ scorecards.

In non-televised bouts:

– Featherweight contender Chris Avalos (25-2, 19 KOs) stopped Jose Cen Torres (13-6, 1 KO) in the fifth round. Referee Tony Garcia stopped the bout at 40 seconds.

– Unbeaten welterweight Brad Solomon (24-0, 9 KOs) won a one-sided unanimous decision over Eduardo Flores (19-16-3, 13 KOs). All three judges scored the bout 80-72 in favor of Solomon.

– Olympic Gold Medalist and cruiserweight prospect Egor Mekhontsev (6-0, 6 KOs) stopped Jinner Guerrero (7-3, 6 KOs) in the second round. Referee Lee Rogers stopped the bout at 2:22.

Montiel and Zepeda win

Fernando Montiel won a 10-round unanimous decision over Sergio Puente at Gimnasio Nuevo Leon in Monterrey, Mexico on Saturday night.

Montiel dropped Puente midway through the second round with a left hook to the body. Montiel went right at Puente when action resumed, but was not able to catch Puente flush again.

Puente, from nearby Guadalupe, was game and was able to connect at times against Montiel. But the world title holder in three weight classes was too much for Puente, using his experience to beat his rival to the punch.

All three judges scored the bout in favor of Montiel, 98-91, 96-93, and 95-93.

Montiel, who resides in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, improves to 53-4-2, 39 KOs. Puente drops to 15-1, 6 KOs.

In a 10-round bout that was fought at 143 pounds, Jose Zepeda (21-0, 18 KOs) knocked out former world title challenger Victor Manuel Cayo in the first round.

From a southpaw stance, Zepeda dropped Cayo with a left hand to the head. Cayo (32-6, 23 KOs) struggled to get up and was not able to beat the count at 1:27.

Mayfield rebounds with a win

Welterweight Karim Mayfield won a one-sided eight-round unanimous decision over Michael Balasi at Longshoremen’s Hall in San Francisco on Saturday night.

Mayfield (19-2-1, 11 KOs), who had lost back-to-back fights against Thomas Dulorme and Emmanuel Taylor, landed the more-telling blows throughout the fight. He almost dropped Balasi (10-6, 7 KOs) near the end of the eighth round.

All three judges scored the bout in favor of Mayfield, 80-72, 80-72, and 79-73.

Also on the card, welterweight prospect Levan Ghvamichava (13-1-1, 10 KOs) survived a first round knockdown to knock out Jonathan Garcia (15-1, 11 KOs) in the second round.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV since October of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Salazar also covers boxing for the Ventura County (CA) Star newspaper, Boxingscene.com, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing