LAS VEGAS – Yoenli Hernandez demonstrated Saturday what he tried to tell an overconfident Angel Ruiz during a press conference Thursday at nearby MGM Grand.

Ruiz predicted he would knock out the highly touted Cuban middleweight prospect on the David Benavidez-David Morrell Jr. undercard at T-Mobile Arena. An aggressive, well-rounded Hernandez hammered him with punishing punches to his head and body until Ruiz provided very little resistance as they neared the midway mark of a fight that was streamed by Amazon’s Prime Video.

Referee Allen Huggins stopped their scheduled 10-round, 160-pound bout at 1:06 of the fifth round because the brave but overmatched Ruiz had taken too many clean head shots. Ruiz remained on his feet throughout four-plus rounds of action and seemed disappointed that Huggins ended their fight.

Nevertheless, Hernandez (7-0, 7 KOs), of Camaguey, Cuba, was the harder puncher and entirely too skillful for Ruiz (18-4-1, 13 KOs) to have a legitimate shot at mounting a comeback.

A defiant Ruiz shook his head at times, even as Hernandez blasted the stubborn southpaw from Culican, Mexico with various punches that backed up his game Mexican opponent.

The third and fourth rounds were particularly brutal before Huggins wisely stopped their fight in the fifth round. Hernandez turned Ruiz’s head with various power punches, but Ruiz wouldn’t go down. Ruiz also threw enough punches back to keep Hernandez honest and prohibited Huggins from stopping their fight.