The fight started horribly for Tobias Reyes and didn’t get any better. 

Miel Fajardo dropped Reyes in the opening seconds and floored him three more times in the next minute, stopping Reyes in the first round of an elimination bout for the right to challenge for the IBF flyweight title.

To add insult to injury, the match took place on Saturday in Reyes’ hometown of Galvez, Sante Fe, Argentina.

Four seconds into the bout, Fajardo’s first thrown punch of the night was a left hook that dropped Reyes backward to the canvas. Reyes was up by the count of four.

But not for long.

Fajardo closed in with a left hook and a clubbing right. Reyes crumpled down again. He remained on one knee, looking toward his corner before getting up by the count of eight.

Again, Fajardo came forward aggressively. Reyes pushed him away. Reyes’ legs were clearly unsteady. Both men threw lunging left hooks. Fajardo followed with a second hook that sent Reyes stumbling into the corner. Fajardo pursued and soon Reyes was down again, for the third time, barely 40 seconds into the bout.

This time, Reyes was up by the count of one. His legs were gone, if they were even there to begin with. His mouthpiece was out. It was rinsed in his corner, though the extra seconds did nothing to help Reyes recover. 

When action resumed, Fajardo finished with seven landed punches, the final blow a left hook that floored Reyes flat on his back underneath the ropes. The referee immediately waved things off. The end came just 65 seconds into the bout. Probably the longest 65 seconds of Reyes’ career.

Going into this bout, Reyes was rated third by the IBF while Fajardo was fourth. The first and second spots were vacant.

The sanctioning body’s flyweight titleholder is Masamichi Yabuki, who is scheduled to defend against Rene Calixto Bibiano on June 6 in Japan.

The 28-year-old Reyes, now 18-2-1 (16 KOs), also came up short in a previous elimination bout, losing a narrow majority decision to Felix Alvarado in late 2024. (Alvarado went on to lose to Yabuki via 12th-round knockout this past December.)

Reyes had bounced back with two victories in 2025, sending the 13-4 Jeanfran Medina packing in three rounds in May and then outpointing the 13-0-1 Pedro Alarcon in October.

Fajardo, now 14-3-2 (12 KOs), is a 26-year-old from the Philippines. He lost a pair of decisions in 2024, one at junior flyweight to Thanongsak Simsri (who is now a titleholder at 108lbs) and the other at flyweight to the 18-6-1 Mchanja Yohana.

When Fajardo returned, he took just 22 seconds to KO a 6-5-2 bantamweight last August. He then resumed campaigning at flyweight in October, winning a unanimous decision against the 22-3 Esneth Domingo. 

At the time, Domingo was rated 10th at 112lbs while Fajardo was 13th. The victory earned Fajardo the IBF’s No. 8 spot. A month later, he jumped to No. 5. As of February 2026, Fajardo was moved up once again to No. 4. 

Now he will be No. 1, a first-round TKO putting Fajardo in position for his first shot at a world title.

David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.