Ireland’s Jason Quigley suffered a second-round knockout as he was overwhelmed by Demetrius Andrade in his WBO world middleweight title bid.
The Donegal fighter, 30, was knocked down three times by the American title holder in New Hampshire.
Andrade had his opponent down in the first round and twice in the second before the referee stopped the fight.
“I did what I said. I felt good and sent a message. You wanted KOs I did them,” said the winner.
He is already anticipating his next fight, either against the Mexican Jaime Munguia or against the winner or loser of the fight between the Kazakh Gennadiy Golovkin, holder of the IBF belt, and the Japanese Ryota Murata, scheduled for 29 December.
It was a 21st professional fight for Quigley and the first time he had challenged for a world title.
Andrade – a two-weight world champion, Olympian and a former world amateur champion – took control of the bout from the early seconds and was never threatened.
On the undercard Kali Reiss successfully defended her WBA light welterweight title against Jessica Camara in a gruelling encounter. Reiss added the WBO belt to her collection with a split decision win and will now take on Great Britain’s Chantelle Cameron in an undisputed fight in 2022.
Cameron was in New Hampshire to see Reiss win and there was even a tense staredown between the two women in the ring. The undisputed fight is expected to happen in the UK early next year.