World-rated Brock Jarvis 20-0 (18) overcame a shaky second round to eventually overwhelm Alejandro Frias 13-5-2 (6) and stop him in the fifth round of their 10 round contest at Chukchansi Park in Fresno, California on Saturday night.
The lightweight bout opened up the broadcast of the Mikey Garcia vs Sandor Martin contest on DAZN.
The 23-year-old from Sydney, Australia was making his US debut and was keen to impress his new promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing and seemed to be on track after the opening round.
He looked on track to do that through the first three minutes of the bout with a scintillating body attack on the inside complimented by power shots to the head.
But things hit the skids early in the second frame when Mexican Frias back Jarvis to the ropes and hurt him with a flurry of punches. Jarvis showed a lack of seasoning as he struggled to wrap up Frias in a clinch or create distance against his opponent.
Frias, 25, continued to let his hands fly freely, peppering Jarvis with power shots and almost driving Jarvis through the ropes. The Australian was lucky to not have a mandatory eight count placed on him by referee Edward Collantes but he somehow survived the round.
Jarvis’ trainer Jeff Fenech implored him between rounds to be careful of Frias’ offence and he started the third on steady legs.
Jarvis worked his way back into the fight and as the cobwebs cleared he gradually took over. Frias looked like he was on dead legs by the fifth and his punch output dimished significantly, prompting referee Collantes to halt the contest at the 2:04 mark as Jarvis was teeing off on Frias on the ropes.
Jarvis was less than happy with how he performed.
“It was an ordinary performance from myself,” Jarvis admitted afterwards. “I’ve got a lot to work on and I’ll just keep working at it.
“He caught me with some big shots and at times like that, you’ve got to dig deep and show what you’re made of. I hung in there and kept working to get the win. I came here to win and win at all costs, a little bit of adversity isn’t going to stop me.”
It was a gut-check for Jarvis, who has been touted as a future star of the sport. But it was an exciting performance that won him some fans in the DAZN broadcast team.
“This is exactly what’s going to make him a better fighter,” former WBC junior middleweight champion Sergio Mora said.
“This is what you want to see out of a young prospect that’s used to having so many knockouts on his resume. How’s he going to react once he gets that chin checked.
“He almost was out but he wasn’t and that’s what’s going to make him a better fighter in the long run.”
Undisputed welterweight world champion Jessica McCaskill added: “He’s a hero now tonight because he was able to get through that second round.”