Eric Donovan suffered the second defeat of his professional career in Glasgow on Saturday night against Robeisy Ramirez.
The Cuban looked a class above the Kildare native and had Donovan on the floor during the first round of their featherweight contest.
Donovan got back to his feet but soon suffered a bad cut to his left eye, which bled heavily for the remainder of the bout.
Two-time Olympic champion knocked Donovan down again in the third round and the referee stepped in to stop the fight.
Donovan admitted before the bout that this was the biggest night of his career and he has some thinking to do about his next move now.
But Ramirez loooked sensational as he extended his unbeaten record to nine, having lost his first pro bout.
Meanwhile, Paddy Donovan took his professional record to 8-0 with an impressive win over Miroslav Serban in Glasgow ahead of the world title showdown between Josh Taylor and Jack Catterall.
The Limerick man's Czech opponent struggled to live with Donovan for the entire fight, but did make it to the final round of six at the OVO Hydro.
Serban came into the fight with a record of 13-8 and took serious damage throughout the bout, which was clearly visible on his face from early on.
Donovan mixed things up with some nice combinations throughout the welterweight contest and landed some awful sounding body shots.
The referee stopped the fight in the final round due to an injury to Serban's left ear.
Described by promoter Bob Arum as "the best looking fighter since Muhammad Ali", Donovan is trained by Andy Lee and was last seen in action when stopping Jose Luis Castillo in the first round of their Falls Park bout on the undercard of Michael Conlan's win over TJ Doheny last August.
The Limerick native promised a "masterpiece of a performance" prior to the bout and did not disappoint. Lee appeared happy with what he saw and applauded plenty of Donovan's work from his corner throughout the fight.
Donovan's ambition is to become Ireland's greatest ever boxer and his reputation certainly continues to grow.
Earlier in the evening, Kurt Walker and Kieran Molloy both made winning starts to their professional careers.
Galway's Molloy fought in the second fight of the night and was in total control of the super-welterweight bout from the first bell against Spanish opponent Damian Esquisabel.
He hurt the Spaniard with a flurry of body shots and punches to the face as he displayed a wide range of skills in his arsenal.
Esquisabel did make it to the end of the first round, but the referee stepped in to stop the bout in the second and Molloy, who was roared on by a large support at ringside, had his arm raised in victory.
Tokyo 2020 Olympian Walker was in the ring straight after Molloy's fight and it took him very little time to stop his Czech opponent Jaroslav Hriadel, who was outclassed right from the start of the featherweight contest.
Walker knocked him down with a thunderous left to the body in the first round and Hriadel, who came into the bout having lost two of his first three pro bouts, couldn't get back up from it.
Speaking after the fight, Walker said: "I felt brilliant.
"I knew to work him to the body, so the first 90 seconds I used the right hand to the body, and then when I changed it up it came with the knockdown and the victory.
"So I am delighted."
The Lisburn native added: "I have been working on body shots every single day. I threw them but I wasn't using too much force. I was still a bit like the amateurs, so I tried to sit down on them a bit more.
"I was a bit too fast so I have plenty of learning to do."
Walker made the move to the pro ranks after his Olympics defeat to America's Duke Ragan, who went on to win silver in Tokyo last summer with former Team Ireland coach Billy Walsh in his corner.
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