Espinoza stopped Ricardo Blandon due to a cut in the third round on The Ring’s “Mexico Versus The World” card at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Canelo Alvarez will challenge WBC super middleweight champ Christian Mbilli in the main event of a show DAZN is streaming worldwide on pay-per-view and as part of its Ultimate plan.

Referee Janny Guzman halted the scheduled 12-round bout between Espinoza and Blandon at 1:22 of the third because a ringside physician didn’t like the looks of a cut above Blandon’s left eye. A straight right hand by Espinoza caused the cut.

“This was an important fight for me,” Espinoza told DAZN’s Claudia Trejos in the ring. “I was out of the ring for almost a year. And I wanna be more active next year and keep going.”

The 6-foot-1 Espinoza (29-0, 25 KOs), unusually tall for the featherweight division, made his fifth defense of the WBO 126-pound championship he won when he upset Robeisy Ramirez by majority decision in December 2023. The 32-year-old Mexican champion, ranked No. 1 among The Ring’s contenders for a vacant crown, hopes his easy victory over Blandon leads to a title unification clash with WBC champ Bruce Carrington or IBF belt-holder Angelo Leo or a showdown with Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue if the undisputed junior featherweight champ moves up four pounds.

Guadalajara’s Espinoza entered the ring as a 30-1 favorite, according to DraftKings. Nicaragua’s Blandon (21-7, 14 KOs, 1 NC), who replaced Lorenzo Parra on approximately one week’s notice because Parra wasn’t medically cleared to fight, lost inside the distance for the second time in his 10-year pro career.

Blandon didn’t let his significant size disadvantage deter him from lunging forward with punches, but his feet weren’t set and he didn’t get much on those shots in two-plus rounds of action before Espinoza ended their fight.

Espinoza was in complete control at the time of the stoppage.