MURFREESBORO, Tenn. --- Rydell Mayes Jr. avenged his lone career defeat in emphatic fashion.

The former local high school football hero and now aspiring cruiserweight didn’t waste any time in disposing of Jaden Booth, scoring a first-round stoppage in their heavyweight rematch. A flurry of punches left Booth defenseless, forcing a stoppage of 0:40 at the opening round of their main event Saturday evening at the main ballroom at Embassy Suites in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Mayes suffered a stunning third-round knockout defeat at the hands of Knoxville’s Booth last March at nearby NOTES Lounge. That venue is no longer in existence, though the disturbing memory of what came of the night stated with the Murfreesboro-bred southpaw.

“I couldn’t shake it,” Mayes admitted. “I had to return to the scene of the crime and make it right.”

Mayes took the fight immediately to Booth (3-5, 3KOs), launching a series of power shots. Booth was pinned along the ropes, hands high in his best effort to defend against the incoming. Mayes wasn’t having any of it, unloading with power punches upstairs until Booth was declared unable to continue in forcing the stoppage.

The fight took place at heavyweight, though Mayes (13-1, 12KOs) plans to return to cruiserweight. He also hopes to return to Dorado, Puerto Rico for the final leg of Jake Paul’s training camp, having worked with the content creator as a sparring partner for Paul’s upcoming clash with Hasim Rahman Jr.  

Alan Belcher was forced to go deeper than at any point in his young career to earn his latest win. He was also demanded to go one round longer than expected, as the 38-year-old heavyweight from D'Iberville, Mississippi advanced to a perfect 5-0 (5KOs) with a fifth-round stoppage of Austin’s Rayford Johnson (12-28, 6KOs). Johnson was down three times in all before the fight was stopped at 2:14 of round five in their preliminary bout.

The fight was originally scheduled as a four-rounder, which would have resulted in Belcher going the distance for the first time as a pro. Both fighters remained on their corner stools after the end of round four, with Johnson’s trainers insisting it was a six-round bout. The two were permitted to proceed, with Belcher finishing off the 42-year-old Johnson who has now lost ten of his last eleven starts. 

Belcher scored a knockdown in round one, was deducted one point for throwing Johnson to the canvas in round three, before earning two more knockdowns in round five to close the show. He will return on Tri-Star Boxing's next show, set for August 20 at Oak Grove Racing and Gaming Hotel in Oak Grove, Kentucky.

Eridanni Leon returned to the win column with a second-round knockout of Anthony Woods. Leon scored four knockdowns before producing the stoppage at 1:09 of round two.

Leon (7-4, 2KOs) scored two knockdowns each in rounds one and two, all of which were produced or set up by right hand body shots. Woods (1-37-1, 1KO)—whose lone career win came in 2019—spent much of the fight on the run until literally sent out of the ring, as the final knockdown sent him through the ropes which prompted referee Daniel Ziemba to mercifully halt the contest. Leon snaps a two-fight losing streak in earning his first win since 2017.

Headlining the show, Rydell Mayes Jr. and Jaden Booth meet in a scheduled ten-round heavyweight rematch to their March 2021 clash, which saw Booth (3-4, 3KOs) deal Mayes (12-1, 11KOs) his first defeat in a stunning third-round knockout.

Saturday’s show also included unbeaten heavyweight Jarrell Miller (25-0-1, 21KOs) in his first U.S. fight since November 2018, stopping Tijuana’s Derek Cardenas (8-10, 7KOs) in the fourth round of the evening’s co-feature. The full post-fight report can be found HERE.

The event streamed live on promoter Tri-Star Boxing's Volume page.

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