ISLETA PUEBLO — It was a night that trainer Al Lovato and his boxer Joaquin Zamora had patiently waited for. And they took full advantage when the opportunity finally arrived.

Zamora, a heavy underdog, scored a third-round TKO over Ray Sanchez III on Friday night at Isleta Casino.

Zamora (16-2-1, 11 KOs) staggered Sanchez in the second round and in the third round, he cut Sanchez's right eye so badly that ring doctor Milton Romero stopped the fight
1 minute, 18 seconds into the round.

While both boxers are left-handed, it was Zamora's right that made the difference. Zamora controlled the bout with his right jab.

"I didn't expect his jab," Sanchez said. "Joaquin had lazy jabs in the past, but he snapped it in on my face all night long. I wasn't expecting that."

"In every fight, that jab always works well," noted Lovato, a longtime Santa Fe trainer.

"I threw about 100 jabs a round," Zamora said. "In the second round, I came up with a right uppercut and followed with a left. That is what stunned him," explained Zamora, who works for the Santa Fe Parks and Recreation Dept.

Sanchez was grabbing and clutching and just trying to hang on as the second round ended.

"I was kind of disappointed when the bell rang," Zamora admitted.

When the fight was stopped in the third round, Sanchez's corner protested at first, and then accepted the decision.

"We thought they stopped it because it was cut," said Sanchez's trainer Jesse Reid. "But they stopped it because his eyesight was blurry. There's no argument with that."

Sanchez (21-3) was the star attraction. He was the reason the fight was on Telefutura.

About six years ago, Zamora was a sparring partner for Sanchez, and Sanchez dropped him in one session, and it was a knockdown that a lot of people remembered before this fight.

"I'm not even the same creature I was then. I'm not even the same animal," Zamora said.

"A whole bunch of people made a big deal about sparring six years ago. We were glad they did that," Lovato noted.

Like in most fights, the losing dressing room was talking about a rematch while the winning dressing room was looking at stepping up to bigger times.

"Right now, my initial reaction is that I want a rematch," Sanchez stated. "I want to take a month off and relax."

"I don't know," Zamora responded. "I don't think we'll have a rematch. I'd like to pick it up for Little Ray and fight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr."

Chavez beat Sanchez last fall in a tough bout in Albuquerque.

"I feel like I've been ready to move into a different phase of my career for a long time," Zamora said.