INGLEWOOD, California — Jay Quigley faced his toughest opponent to date as a pro in Jorge Melendez Saturday night.

But what was supposed to be a challenge for the rising middleweight prospect turned into a one-sided beat-down. Quigley dropped Melendez three times in route to an impressive first-round knockout victory.

Quigley improves to 12-0, 10 knockouts, while Melendez falls to 28-8-1, 26 KOs.

Melendez had faced quality opposition as a pro, but had lost four of his six bouts before stepping in the ring against Quigley. Melendez had lost to the likes of Javier Maciel, Ievgen Khytrov, and most recently, Antonio Gutierrez.

Quigley, who is trained by Manny Robles and resides in the Los Angeles area, had scored knockout wins, but against softer opposition. In his last bout on May 7, Quigley won a one-sided 10-round decision over fringe contender James De La Rosa.

About midway through the opening round, Quigley dropped Melendez with a right hand to the head. Melendez beat the count and attempted to fight back, but was dropped again by a barrage of punches.

Melendez stood up on wobble legs and was dropped a third time. To his credit, Melendez stood up and tried to fight back, but received a barrage of punches as he attempted to fight off the ropes. Melendez’s corner sparred their fighter more punishment, throwing in the towel, prompting referee Gerard White to stop the bout at 2:24.

In an all-action bout, junior lightweight fringe contender Carlos Morales survived an eighth-round knockdown to win a 10-round split decision over Charles Huerta.

Morales improves to 15-1-3, 6 KOs, while Huerta falls to 18-5, 10 KOs.

Morales switched from conventional to southpaw stances to effectively outbox Huerta through the first half of the fight. Sensing he was down in the fight, Huerta came on in the middle rounds, sitting down on his punches when he was able to get on the inside of Morales’ guard.

Huerta’s persistence paid off in round eight when he dropped Morales with a right hand. Morales was able to get up and survive the round, and was at his best when he attempted to outbox Huerta during the final two rounds.

One judge scored the bout 96-93 in favor of Huerta, while the other two judges scored the bout 96-93 and 95-94 for Morales.

“He was on his game and it was a tough fight,” said Morales after the fight.

Lightweight prospect Christian Gonzalez (16-0, 14 KOs) dropped veteran Jonathan Perez (36-16, 28 KOs) twice in route to a third round knockout win. Time of the knockout was 24 seconds.

Lightweight Ivan Delgado improved to 11-0-1, 4 KOs, stopping Roberto Rivera (6-4, 5 KOs) at 1:18 of the sixth round. Delgado battered Rivera against the ropes until referee Zac Young stopped the bout.

Lightweight former amateur standout Ryan Garcia (7-0, 6 KOs) stunned Antonio Martinez (6-8, 5 KOs) multiple times before stopping him at 2:00 of the second round.

In the opening bout of the Golden Boy Promotions card, featherweight prospect Joet Gonzalez (15-0, 7 KOs) stopped Jairo Hernandez (15-11, 8 KOs) at 2:40 of the sixth round.

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