Justin DeLoach is back to doing what he knows best.

New life has been breathed into the career of the Augusta, Georgia-based welterweight, who scored an upset 1st round knockout win over previously unbeaten Livan Navarro. A pair of knockdowns were enough to end their FS1-televised welterweight bout Saturday evening from Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

Referee Jack Reiss intervened after the second knockdown, urging Navarro to stay down as the fight was stopped at 2:15 of round one.

Navarro came out looking to outbox DeLoach in the early going. The former amateur standout from Havana—who now lives and trains in Miami—looked to establish his jab, though the lack of power shots to follow proved to be his detriment.

An overshot combination by Navarro created an opening for DeLoach, who immediately responded with a sharp right hand to score the bout’s first knockdown. Navarro beat the count, but didn’t have the wherewithal to clinch his way out of trouble.

DeLoach finished off his weakened foe. The sequence was set up by a left hook, with Navarro in trouble as a barrage of punches ended with a left hook to the temple followed by consecutive right hands. Navarro struggled to roll off of his side as a count was issued, with the fight halted soon thereafter.

Navarro falls to 11-1 (7KOs) in suffering his first career defeat.

DeLoach advances to 19-4 (10KOs) with the win, his first since November 2018. The 26-year old entered the bout having lost three of his last four, all coming after making a career after picking off top prospects.

Wins over a trio of unbeaten junior middleweights in 2016 (Dillon Cook, Junior Castillo, Domonique Dolton) and a shocking 2nd round knockout of Christopher Pearson in 2017 had DeLoach looking the part of a contender. That changed in an instance when he was stopped in five rounds by Nathaniel Gallimore (who was stopped in five rounds by Sebastián Fundora earlier Saturday evening) in July 2017, followed by a 10-round decision to Jeison Rosario, who is now a unified junior middleweight titlist.

Since then has come a drop to welterweight, where DeLoach has won two of three. Following Saturday’s victory comes the desire to increase his level of competition.

“I wouldn’t mind a fight with Jamal James,” DeLoach told Fox Sports’ Jordan Hardy, referencing the Minnneapolis native who obtained an interim welterweight title two weeks ago on Fox prime.

DeLoach-Navarro aired in supporting capacity to a Fox-televised welterweight title eliminator, where Las Vegas-based former two-time titlist Shawn Porter claimed a 12-round shutout over Germany’s Sebastian Formella.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for krikya360.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox