The bout between hard-charging, power-punching Mexican junior welterweights Oscar Duarte and Miguel Madueno promised to be a barnburner featuring plenty of heavy leather.

The script went according to plan, until Duarte detonated Madueno by scoring a seventh-round stoppage win Saturday at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, headlining a Golden Boy Promotions show on DAZN.

After a competitive start, Duarte (29-2-1, 23 KOs) applied pressure by leaning on a lethal left hook and a dedicated attack to the body of Madueno (31-4-0, 28 KOs) and started mounting momentum to the finish, which came at the 2:09 mark of the seventh in a fight scheduled for 12.

“Miguel Madueno is a gentleman and a tough fighter, but tonight was our night,” said Duarte. “By the fourth round, I felt that he was really starting to feel my punches. I knew eventually he was going to come down. I want to congratulate the referee for doing a great job.”

Finesse went out the door from the opening bell and a brawl broke out in an entertaining seesaw slugfest featuring early swing rounds. Through three rounds, Duarte outlanded Madueno 51 to 41, with 23 of the shots landing on the body.

In the fourth round, referee Thomas Taylor ruled that an accidental headbutt caused a cut on the bridge of Madueno’s nose. As soon as the action continued, Duarte momentarily stunned Madueno with a left hook against the ropes and unleashed a flurry of punches.

Duarte drew more blood in the fifth, causing a cut on the left eyebrow of Madueno, this time with a legal, straight right hand.

Madueno started slowing in the sixth and Duarte was walking him down as the elusiveness he demonstrated earlier in the fight was no longer evident.

By the seventh, Madueno was a stationary fighter sitting on the ropes, eating a heavy diet of punches while nodding in dismay. Duarte angled Madueno to the middle of the ring and rattled him with a huge right hand. A series of unanswered shots staggered Madueno and forced Taylor to step in and wave off the fight.

Duarte landed 149 of 447 of his punches, while Madueno connected with 89 of 430.

“It was a beautiful performance,” said Golden Boy chief Oscar De La Hoya. “Madueno is such a warrior. He can take a punch and give a punch. But I'm more impressed with Duarte ... he's right there. He's in the mix with everybody at 140. I think Duarte is ready for the world title shot.”

Madueno stepped in on 10 days’ notice to face Duarte after original opponent Regis Prograis, a two-time junior welterweight title holder, was forced to pull out of the fight due to a shoulder injury.

Neither Duarte nor Madueno are ranked in the top 10 at 140 by The Ring, and from the four major sanctioning bodies, only the WBA has Duarte ranked in the top 15 at No. 8.

Duarte used his platform to specifically challenge Golden Boy stablemate Arnold Barboza Jr., who earlier in the day beat Jack Catterall for the WBO interim junior welterweight title in the United Kingdom.

“I was getting ready for Prograis, and another fighter came. It didn't matter. I'm ready for anyone. Any champion, I am here,” said Duarte.

The Robert Garcia-trained Duarte is now on a three-fight winning streak after getting knocked out by Ryan Garcia in 2023. Duarte beat former title holder Joseph Diaz Jr. as well as Botirzhon Akhmedov last year.

Madueno, meanwhile, has dropped three out of his last four fights. He was coming off a one-sided unanimous decision loss in July against Keyshawn Davis, who on Friday became the WBO lightweight champion after knocking out Denys Berinchyk.

But Duarte did what Davis couldn't by demolishing and stopping Madueno.