Despite being on the receiving end of a strong blow from Rogelio Sanchez in the third round, Steven Gamache remained on his feet and fought on to beat Sanchez by unanimous decision in a four-round junior middleweight bout at the Roseland Ballroom in New York on Friday night.

It was Gamache’s second fight, but Sanchez (0-4) proved to be a much tougher opponent than Patrick Bozeman, who took on Gamache in his pro debut in New Hampshire last August. Gamache dropped Bozeman with a second-round knockout punch.

But beating Sanchez from Fort Worth, Ind., would not be easy for Gamache.

In the first round, Gamache stunned Sanchez and knocked him down, but Sanchez recovered and both prizefighters went the distance in the undercard fight on ESPN’s “Friday Night Fights.”

“I thought it was going to be a breeze,” Gamache said. “I know I got excited. I thought I was going to finish him off. Apparently I woke him up.

“I was happy I got the work in. It was better than knocking him out in the first few minutes. He (Sanchez) was much better than his record showed. It was a great learning experience.”

“He fought a tough kid,” said Joey Gamache, Steven’s dad and trainer. “(Sanchez) used a nice jab.”

But when Joey Gamache watched his son receive a stunning third-round punch, Joey was concerned for Steven.

“I could tell he got rocked,” said Joey Gamache. “He put on a good fight. But I was happy with his (Steven) performance since he was inactive. He looked a little loose in some spots, but he is a work in progress. He showed potential and a good boxing mind.”

Joey Gamache also pointed out that a 10-month hiatus between Steven’s first fight didn’t help his cause against Sanchez.

“I am just happy to be in the ring after a year,” Steven Gamache said.

Steven Gamache also turned in a shining performance outside the ring, selling more than $12,000 worth of tickets. Promoters of “Friday Night Fights” usually requires a fighter to deliver at least $4,000 in sales.

But Joey Gamache refuses to wait another 10 months before Steven steps into the ring again, hoping he will be ready to go in September.

“We are hoping that he sold so many tickets that he can get on any show,” said Joey Gamache, who wants to bring his son back to the Pine Tree State when The Sports Combat Authority of Maine hammers out new rules governing pro boxing. “Then we will fight in both places. We are going to fight wherever and whenever we can.”