It took Monty Meza-Clay less than three rounds to dazzle fans in his home city with his first win in more than a year.

Meza-Clay (29-3) stopped Allen Litzau at 2:47 in the third round of the super featherweight match at the Rivers Casino Saturday night, Meza-Clay's return to fighting after a year of injuries. The fight was stopped "on advice from [Litzau's] corner" and ruled a TKO. Litzau fell to 13-6.

Meza-Clay put on a show before he stepped in the ring, shadowboxing for the crowd at the Rivers Casino amphitheater, which was hosting its first boxing event, from the second-floor escalator as he made his way outside. He followed his pre-fight game plan: Get inside Litzau and stay inside.

Meza-Clay controlled the ring in the first round and established his left hook as his primary weapon. He blocked or ducked most of Litzau's power punches and kept Litzau on the perimeter of the ring.

He began the second round with five straight left hooks to the body and caught Litzau with a flurry of close punches in the middle of the ring. Right at the bell, he landed a left-right-left combo straight to Litzau's face that dropped him against the ropes.

The only punches Litzau landed were left hooks, where he used his longer reach and five-inch height advantage over Meza-Clay to catch the right side of his head. Meza-Clay's defense, however, deflected most of them.

Meza-Clay weathered Litzau's punches to get inside, then worked the body in the third round. A left uppercut and a left hook set up a 30-second tirade of punches that ended with Litzau taking a knee.

When the fight resumed, Meza-Clay pinned Litzau against the ropes and landed left and right hooks to the ribcage and chin. Eventually, someone from Litzau's corner began waving to the referee, who stopped the fight.

Meza-Clay did not throw many straight power punches, instead jabbing inside and using short, powerful hooks.

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