By Jim Dower: In a sensational fight from start to finish, #5 WBC, #10 IBF light heavyweight contender Edwin Rodriguez (28-1, 19 KOs) stopped a game Michael Seals (19-1, 14 KOs) in the 3rd round on Friday night at the Premier Boxing Champions on Spike TV from the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino, in Biloxi, Mississippi, USA.

The fight was halted at the start of the 3rd round, when Rodriguez dropped Seals with a hard right to the head. Seals rolled around on the canvas and tried to get up, but he was too hurt. The fight was then halted at 0:24 of the 3rd.

In the first 30 seconds of the 1st round, Rodriguez hurt Seals with a right hand and dropped him with a left that caused him to stagger and fall while trying to regain his footing. However, Seals responded by knocking Rodriguez down twice in the 1st round with short rights to the head. Rodriguez totally lost his composure while trying to finish Seals off, and this left him open to short right hands from Seals that put Rodriguez down two times.

Late in the 2nd round, Rodriguez dropped Seals with a chopping right hand to the head while he was in the corner. At the same time, a fight broke out in the crowd. A badly hurt Seals climbed to his feet and turned around to watch the fight in the crowd. After the action resumed, Rodriguez pounded Seals with huge blows that had him looking shaky on his feet as the round ended. Seals was against the ropes from the moment he was dropped until the round ended.

As badly hurt as Seals was, he wasn’t going to be able to make out of the 3rd round. Sure enough, Rodriguez immediately jumped on Seals and flattened him with a right hand to the head. Seals attempted to get to his feet, but he was way too hurt to do much more than roll around on the canvas.

This win keeps Rodriguez in line for potential title shot against WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson in 2016.

Rodriguez is going to need to be a little more disciplined in the future when/if he gets a crack at Stevenson’s WBC title, because he was way too wide with his punches. He left himself open for Seals’ shots all fight long. Had this been Stevenson or Sergey Kovalev, Rodriguez likely would have been stopped in the 1st round.

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The talented but still very green Thomas Williams (19-1, 13 KOs) registered his 13th career knockout in beating 36-year-old Humberto Savigne (12-3, 9 KOs) by a 2md round knockout.

Williams Jr, 28, dropped Savigne hard in the 2nd. After he got back to his feet, Savigne was nailed by a flurry of shots that prompted referee Keith Hughes to step in and stop the fight at 1:48 of the round. The southpaw Williams Jr. and Savigne both hit the deck in the 1st round.

For Williams, this was his second victory since being stopped in the 5th round last year by ring veteran Gabriel Campillo in August 2014. It wasn’t a good sign that Williams Jr. was dropped by a fighter in Savigne’s class. This should have been an easy fight for Williams Jr. The fact that he hit the deck once in the contest suggests that he needs a great deal of work before he’ll be ready to fight the top contenders at 175 like Artur Beterbiev, Eleider Alvarez, Jean Pascal, Andrezj Fonfara, Edwin Rodriguez, Yunieski Gonzalez, Sullivan Barrera, Nathan Cleverly, Vyacheslav Shabranskyy, Erik Skoglund and Marcus Browne.

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Undefeated welterweight prospect Bryant Perrelle (12-0, 11 KOs) stayed unbeaten with a 1st round knockout over Chaquib Fadi (13-6, 7 KOs). Perrella trapped Fadi against the ropes and had him badly hurt. The ropes kept Fadi up, so the referee gave him a standing eight count. After the action resumed, Perrelle put Fadi down in the corner. The fight was then halted.

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In another mismatch on tonight’s card, 29-year-old middleweight former world title challenger Fernando Guerrero (27-3, 19 KOs) had an easy time in stopping and over-matched journeyman Daniel Souza Santos (14-8, 11 KOs) in the 7th round. Guerrero really teed off on a hurt Santos in the 7th round to put him down on the canvas. The fight was then halted by referee Keith Hughes at 1:45 of the round.

Guerrero was stopped in the 3rd round in May 2014 by David Lemieux. In 2013, former WBO middleweight champion Peter Quillin knocked Guerrero out in the 7th round. In 2011, Guerrero was halted in the 4th round by 40-year-old Grady Brewer.

Guerrero has excellent boxing skills and good punching power, but his chin has consistently let him down over the past four years of his career. If his chin doesn’t become sturdier, then it’s going to be difficult for him to go anywhere with his career.