Argentine rising star Mirco Cuello pulled off a dramatic comeback, scoring a brutal 10th-round knockout over Mexico’s Christian Olivo to win a WBA featherweight title eliminator. The bout took place Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas as part of the undercard for the David Benavidez vs. David Morrell event.

Cuello had to dig deep in this one, clawing his way back from the brink against a relentless opponent who applied constant pressure.

After an all-action opening round, the Argentine found himself in early trouble when Olivo caught him with a sharp right hook, dropping him hard in the closing seconds of the second round.

Undeterred, Cuello beat the count and stayed in the fight, but Olivo kept up the aggression, outworking him and controlling much of the action. The Mexican clearly won the fourth and fifth rounds, while Cuello clawed back some ground in the middle frames, only for Olivo to regain momentum in the seventh and eighth.

Knowing he was behind on the scorecards, Cuello came out with urgency in the championship rounds. In the 10th, he turned the tide in spectacular fashion, landing a crushing right hand that sent Olivo crashing to the canvas.

Though Olivo bravely got to his feet, Cuello smelled blood and wasted no time in closing the show, flooring him again with another punishing shot. Despite Olivo’s willingness to continue, the referee stepped in to wave off the contest, awarding Cuello a dramatic TKO victory in a fight he had been trailing.

With the win, Cuello (15-0, 12 KOs) moves one step closer to a world title shot and is now in line to face Britain’s Nick Ball for the WBA featherweight championship.

Olivo, now 22-2-1 (9 KOs), suffers a heartbreaking loss after an impressive performance but will look to bounce back in the highly competitive featherweight division.