Having lost Kevin Phillips to a hernia injury, much of The Black Cats' cutting edge had been blunted and it showed as a rampant Boro side continued their useful start to the season.
Robbie Stockdale had gone close for the home side, before Slovakian international Szilard Nemeth put Boro ahead on the quarter hour from close range.
A dreadful error by Tomas Sorenson in the visiting goal saw him fail to hang onto a shot from outside the area by Massimo Maccarone and Nemeth was on hand to volley the rebound into the goal.
Italian starlet Maccarone is fast becoming a hero at The Riverside and he made it two in the 38th minute, with a bullet like header from a Franck Queudrue free-kick.
Nemeth got a second in the 66th minute, when he finished off a superb counter-attack as Boro moved to fourth in The Premiership, above Manchester United.
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