LOS ANGELES – He may have been out of the ring for three years, but Abraham Lopez is making up for lost time.

Fighting for the third time in four and a half months, the 27-year-old featherweight was victorious again, stopping fellow fringe contender Jorge Diaz after the ninth round at a sold-out Belasco Theatre on Thursday.

With the win, Lopez improves to 19-0-1, 14 knockouts. Diaz drops to 18-4-1, 10 KOs.

Lopez, who resides in nearby La Puente, returned to the ring on Mar. 20 after a three-year hiatus. While Lopez trained during the hiatus, he completed his education and found a job as a respiratory therapist.

In his last bout on May 22, Lopez knocked out Alfred Tetteh in the fifth round in Indio, California.

Diaz, who had won once in four bouts prior to the Lopez bout, came to fight, but took a tremendous amount of punches to the head from Lopez.

There were plenty of exchanges between the two, but it was Lopez who landed the telling blows throughout the bout. Anytime Diaz attempted to get on the inside, Lopez punished him with a counter left hook that snapped Diaz’s head back.

Lopez landed more punches with each passing round, pressing the fight in the final two rounds of the fight. Diaz hung in there, backing away and countering whenever Lopez initiated exchanges. But Lopez’s punches began to take their toll on Diaz, whose face looked bruised from the punishment he took.

After the ninth round, Diaz’s corner advised referee Jack Reiss to stop the fight, declaring Lopez the winner.

Junior featherweight prospect Roy Tapia stopped Juan Luis Hernandez in the third round.

Tapia improves to 11-0-2, 6 KOs, while Hernandez drops to 18-6-1, 9 KOs.

Tapia was the aggressor from the opening bell, putting Hernandez on the defensive for most of the bout. The East Los Angeles fighter mostly connected with left hooks or right crosses as Hernandez attempted to counter.

In the second round, Tapia dropped Hernandez with a right hand to the head. To his credit, Hernandez got up and fought back.

Tapia ended matters in the third round, throwing and landing a left hook to the head, dropping Hernandez to the canvas. Referee Zac Young counted Hernandez out at 1:49.

Two fighters under the Golden Boy Promotions banner made successful professional debuts, both scoring first-round knockouts.

Hector Tanajara Jr. dropped Thomas De Leon twice, eventually getting the knockout win. Tanajara dropped De Leon (0-3) with a barrage of punches to the head. De Leon stood up, but was dropped again, this time with a lead straight right to the head. De Leon remained on the canvas while referee Jack Reiss counted him out at 1:14.

Like Tanajara, junior welterweight Jonathan Navarro dropped Andrew Gomez (0-2) twice in the first round.

Navarro easily countered Gomez early on, scoring an immediate knockdown with a left hook to the head. Gomez tried to fight back, but was dropped again with another left hook. Referee Zac Young stepped in and stopped the bout at 1:03.

Both are trained by Robert Garcia.

– Junior lightweight Francisco Ochoa (2-0, 1 KO) stopped Marquis Pierce (1-7) in the second round. Referee Jack Reiss stopped the bout at 30 seconds.

– Junior featherweight Pablo Rubio (2-0, 2 KOs) stopped Martin Regalado at 33 seconds of the second round. Regalado was making his pro debut.

– In the opening bout of the Golden Boy Promotions card, Joshua Franco won by split decision over Temoatzin Landeros. One judge scored the bout 40-36 in favor of Landeros, while the other two judges scored the bout 40-36 and 39-37 for Franco, who was making his pro debut.