Raymond Muratalla overcame an early knockdown to preserve his unbeaten payday and a targeted slot on a high-profile show this spring.

The rising lightweight prospect was down in the opening round of his ESPN+ televised bout versus Humberto Galindo, whom he stopped in the ninth round. Muratalla stormed back to twice drop Galindo, the latter which produced a full ten count to end the fight at 2:40 of round nine Saturday evening from Save Mart Arena in Fresno, California.

At stake for Muratalla was an eyed clash with Jeremiah Nakathila on the undercard of the May 20 Devin Haney-Vasiliy Lomachenko undisputed lightweight championship in Las Vegas. The unbeaten 26-year-old from Fontana, California didn’t make it easy as he was sent to the canvas late in the opening round. Muratalla struggled to break the habit of laying against the ropes, to which Galindo made him pay. A left hook and right hand floored Muratalla with a little more than 30 seconds to go in the round.

Galindo continued to apply pressure in round two. The best moments for the Tijuana native came when Muratalla moved straight back to the ropes. Galindo let his hands go during those sequences, with Muratalla able to pick off most of the incoming but still catching the occasional left hook upstairs.

Muratalla turned the tide in round three, by which point he not only seemed to clear his head but also fully warmed up after coming in cold. The rising prospect landed clean left hooks to the body and combinations upstairs as Galindo struggled when the action took place in the center of the ring.

The fight was leveled up in round four when Galindo was forced to take a knee. A trio of left hooks to the body by Muratalla produced the knockdown, as Galindo wisely went down to avoid additional punishment.

Action slowed in the middle rounds, which played to Muratalla’s advantage. Galindo did his best to come forward and press the action but was consistently beaten to the punch by Muratalla, who kept everything tight and down the middle. Galindo used his jab to work his way inside early in round eight. Muratalla maintained his composure and distance to avoid any damaging blows from finding the mark when not targeting the body.

It was the downstairs attack, however, that ultimately closed the show.

Muratalla was given explicit instructions by head trainer Robert Garcia to close out strong in the final two rounds. The student heeded the teacher’s advice as he opened the round early with left hooks upstairs and right hands both up top and to the body. It was a final body blow that forced Galindo to the canvas late in round nine, where he remained as referee Gerard White reached the count of ten.

The win advanced Muratalla’s record to 17-0 (14KOs) and will potentially face his most notable challenge to date if pre-fight plans hold true for May.

Headlining the show, former titlists Jose Ramirez (27-1, 17KOs) and Richard Commey (30-4-1, 27KOs) will collide in a scheduled 12-round junior welterweight bout.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox