Three weeks ago, 5-0 junior middleweight Yoenis “Bandolero” Tellez was training for a fight in late August when an unexpected call came.

The 23-year-old Tellez, a native of Cuba who resides in Texas, received an offer to face contender Sergio Garcia July 29 in the opening pay per view bout of the Errol Spence-Terence Crawford broadcast. Garcia’s original opponent, Jesus Ramos, was forced to withdraw due to a hand injury. A fight with Garcia represented a quantum leap in competition but Tellez’ team immediately accepted.

“The first time I saw Yoenis, he reminded me of the great Jose Napoles and I knew he was a special talent,” said Luis DeCubas Sr. of Warriors Boxing, who co-promotes Tellez with Boxlab Promotions. “He was fighting in Russia against a Russian fighter, broke the guy down, and stopped him in two rounds.”

With the highly esteemed Ronnie Shields as his trainer, Tellez entered the ring as an underdog according to oddsmakers. Garcia was 34-2 and both of his defeats came via decisions against former world champions Sebastian Fundora and Tony Harrison. Being part of the broadcast of boxing’s most anticipated fight in years meant there would be millions of viewers worldwide.

None of that mattered once the opening bell sounded.

Tellez cracked Garcia towards the end of the second round with a two-punch combination. In the third, Tellez unloaded two picturesque right hands that sent Garcia tumbling to the canvas. Garcia made it back to his feet but was clearly hurt. Tellez followed up by landing several hard right hands that sent Garcia reeling into the ropes before following up and forcing Robert Hoyle to halt the contest at 2:02 of the third round.

Tellez improved to 6-0 with 5 of his wins coming by knockout.

“Yoenis took full advantage of the opportunity by destroying a fighter who’d never been stopped before despite facing some very good fighters,” said DeCubas Sr.

“Warriors Boxing and Boxlab Promotions thank PBC and Showtime for presenting this fight, as the boxing world now knows the caliber of fighter Yoenis Tellez is.”

Tellez is expected to return to action in the fall.