Featherweight star Marco Antonio Barrera has returned to action with a comfortable victory over former world champion Enrique Sanchez in Reno, Nevada.

Barrera, inactive since he beat Prince Naseem Hamed in April, inflicted such a beating on Sanchez that the beaten fighter's corner pulled him out at the end of the sixth round.

Barrera dropped Sanchez in the third round with a counter overhand right and also put him on the floor in the fourth round with his trademark left hook.

According to punch statistics, Barrera landed 131 punches to his opponent's 45 and put on an exhibition during the final two rounds.

The Mexican improved his record to 54 wins, three defeats, with 39 wins by way of knockout or stoppage. His opponent drops to 28-2 (21), with two draws.

Also on the bill, Kazakhstan's Vassily Jirov stopped Julian Letterlough in the eighth round of their fight to retain his International Boxing Federation cruiserweight title.

The 27-year-old Jirov, a 1996 Olympic gold medallist, remains unbeaten, taking his record to 30-0 (27).

Letterlough, of the United States, fell to 17-2-1, with 16 wins inside the limit.