Lucas Matthysse showed no signs of ring rust after a year and a half out of the ring, physically dominating a game Emmanuel Taylor en route to a fifth round stoppage tonight on HBO pay-per-view.

Matthysse (38-4, 35 KO) dropped Taylor (20-5, 14 KO) in the third round, and again in the fifth before referee Jay Nady waved off the fight at 2:21 of that round.

Matthysse, 34, hadn’t been seen since an October 2015 loss to Viktor Postol, where he was broken down and made to quit, and there was talk of him possibly retiring from boxing during his lengthy absence. Instead, he’s back strong with new trainer Joel Diaz, who seemed to have Matthysse mentally focused and working off of a great game plan.

Taylor, 26, had never been stopped before, and to his credit did land some shots. He was the slightly more accurate puncher of the two and is a capable fighter, but Matthysse didn’t respect or even acknowledge his power in the fight, and was able to overwhelm him with raw power.

Matthysse landed 78 of 288 (27%) of his total punches, including 59 of 184 (32%) power shots. Taylor landed 53 of 176 (30%) of his shots overall, and 31 of 95 (33%) of his power shots.

How do you see Matthysse doing as he goes forward in the packed 147-pound division, now that you’ve seen his return to action go this well?