Andre Lambe issued a statement of intent with a sparkling first-round stopping against prospect Gilbert Vargas at the Berkeley Institute on Saturday night.

Described as “fire hot” by his coach, Allan “Forty” Rego, prior to the bout, Lambe more than lived up to those words with a sizzling performance, flooring Vargas three times in the opening round of their amateur bout.

The southpaw put Vargas on his backside within the first few seconds with a check right hook — a punch which he believed his opponent, a North Carolina golden gloves winner, was susceptible to after studying his YouTube footage.

Surprised rather than hurt, Vargas steadied himself and seemed to be working his way back into the round before he was forced to the canvas again by a blistering three-punch combination from Lambe.

Vargas looked shellshocked as he gingerly returned to his feet, as did his coach, Jake “The Snake” Smith, a Boxing Hall of Famer, who sat open-mouthed, shaking his head, as he watched from ringside.

By now his fighter was on the brink, with Lambe wasting little time in earning his first stoppage victory after dropping Vargas a third time with another crisp right hook to put any doubts over his power to rest.

“I didn’t really get to show you guys much of what I can do,” said Lambe, who prepared for his lightweight bout at a twice-daily training camp in Orlando with Nikki Bascome.

“All I could show was that I’ve got power — that’s about it. I saw a video of him last night and I sent it to my team because I could see he had a lazy jab.

“I practised the check hook in my head and that was the first shot a threw. It went down perfectly and after that it was just about taking him down.”

Lambe said he used Vargas’s aggression to his advantage and believes patience and shot selection were the keys to his victory.

“After I put him down, he was like a caged animal and I knew he would come after me looking for a knockdown” he said.

“I was just waiting for him, staying patient, and I caught him again — that’s what you have to do.”

In his previous bout at Snorkel Park in September, Lambe beat Vargas’s stablemate from Baltimore Boxing Club, Dorian Bostic, on points and said he learned plenty from that win.

“When I caught [Bostic] in my last fight, I overdid myself looking for the finish. Now I know it’s important to remain patient.

“This guy was no slouch, I just made it look easy. I feel improvement every time I train and I’ve been learning plenty of new tricks. I just didn’t get to show them because the fight was over so fast.”

Lambe now hopes to have a tune-up fight before he heads to Ohio for the Arnold Classic in March.

It was the second time Smith, Vargas’s coach, has watched Lambe in action and he admits he was shocked by the manner of his win.

“I think [Vargas] was on the receiving end of some unfortunate shots that knocked the kid off balance,” he said.

“Andre is there but he needs a few more amateur fights before he goes pro. I can’t really give you a proper opinion until I see more of him. He’s a good quality fighter.”

Also on the amateur undercard Tyler Christopher, of Controversy Gym, was on the wrong end of a questionable unanimous decision against Jason Cananaso, of Baltimore Gym, in their welterweight bout.

“I was very pleased with Jason, he came out strong and threw proper punches, moved his head, and did everything we asked of him. It was a good performance,” Smith added.

Zain Philpott, of the Bermuda Sanshou Association, came out on top with a points win over Robert Somner, of Controversy Gym, in their much-anticipated middleweight bout.

The pair met at Snorkel Park in September, with Somner suffering a controversial defeat after the contest was stopped in the final round when an accidental elbow cut Philpott below his left eye.

Philpott said he was determined to set the record straight in the pair’s grudge match.

“I know a lot of people disagreed with my previous victory and I felt I needed to prove a point. I had to win back some fans!

“I think I made a statement in the second round and landed the punches my coach was telling me to throw.

“I started seeing the opportunities and took them.

“In the third round I just had to stay protected and make sure he couldn’t get any more points on me while still getting points on him.”

Coleman Mills, of Rego’s Gym, defeated Shannon Ford, of BSA, via technical knockout after Ford was unable to finish the third round because of a dislocated shoulder.

In the night’s opening bout Keanu Wilson, of BSA, recorded a points win over Stefan Dronjak, of Southside Muay Thai in Ontario.