Jeremiah Nakathila was thought of as nothing more than a body for Miguel Berchelt on Saturday from the Resorts World Las Vegas in Las Vegas because of the way he got dominated by WBO junior lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson in June. 

Nakathila quieted the critics as he thrashed Berchelt from the outset to win via sixth-round TKO when referee Russell Mora stopped the fight after heeding the advice of the ringside doctor after the round saw a thunderous right hand that sent Berchelt's mouthpiece across the ring and the action being paused for a moment. Nakathila was up 60-53 on all three judges scorecards when the fight was called off.  "I was going to knock him out or put him to sleep in a bad way," Nakathila said in his post-fight interview. "I know what I have. I knew it would be difficult for him to reach the 10th round. It wasn't so easy, but I made it look easy."

Facing Nakathila was supposed to be the life raft Berchelt (38-3, 34 KOs) needed after coming off a stoppage loss to Oscar Valdez and moving up to lightweight. Instead, Nakathila (23-2, 19 KOs) put the foot on the gas pedal from the outset and never took it off. He continuously walked Berchelt down and kept throwing shots, which resulted in the native of Nambia knocking Berchelt down in the third round.

Nakatahila connected on 125 of 503 punches, with 38 of those coming in the decisive sixth round. Berchelt was reluctant to throw, and it showed as he only connected on 80 of 287 punches. 

"I'm a little bit surprised," Berchelt said about the stoppage. "Thought I was in condition to continue, but the referee decided to stop the fight. He's the ultimate authority. I have to respect that, but I wanted to continue."