Keith Holmes needed only one punch to turn a tactical fight into a smashing championship win.

Holmes used a devastating right hand in the ninth round Saturday night to upset Quincy Taylor and win the WBC middleweight championship in his first bid for a professional title.The ninth-ranked contender was narrowly ahead on the cards of the three ringside judges when he threw a right hand counter that put Taylor on the canvas for the first knockdown of the fight.

Taylor, 160, got up but was shaky and Holmes went right after him, landing a succession of head punches that prompted referee Richard Steele to step in and stop the fight at 1:43 of the ninth round.

The fight was on the undercard of Frank Bruno's WBC heavyweight title defense against former champion Mike Tyson at the MGM Grand hotel.

In two other title fights preceding the main event, all four fighters combined didn't weigh more than Bruno and Tyson together.

Michael Carbajal regained the IBF 108-pound title he once held with a lackluster but unanimous decision over Mexico's Melchor Cob-Castro while Ricardo Lopez retained his WBC 105-pound title in his 15th successful title defense.

Earlier in the day, Bernard Hopkins successfully defended the IBF version of the 160-pound crown with a spectacular fourth-round knockout of top-ranked contender Joe Lipsey. Hopkins was at ringside to watch Holmes pull his upset, and invited him for a fight as he left the ring.

"Let's eat dinner first, then we'll talk about it," replied Holmes.

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Until the knockdown, the two left-handed middleweights had fought a cautious and tactical fight as Taylor tried to defend for the first time the 160-pound crown he won last Aug. 19 by stopping Julian Jackson.

Holmes (28-1, 18 knockouts), 159, never appeared to hurt Taylor but was ahead by two points on two scorecards and one point on another when the fight was stopped.

Taylor (26-4), of Dallas, earned $150,000 for the title fight, while Holmes, of Washington, was paid $50,000.

Carbajal was riding a six-fight winning streak since losing his 108-pound titles in two fights against Humberto Gonzales.

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