Carlos Negron didn’t demonstrate textbook technique, but the veteran heavyweight produced another quick knockout Saturday night.

The Puerto Rican-born Negron beat up Rafael Rios before dropping and stopping him in the second round of a scheduled six-rounder at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Their fight aired as the opener on FS2, not FOX, due to FOX’s national coverage of president-elect Joe Biden’s victory speech.

Referee Rudy Barragan stopped the action at 2:33 of the second round.

The 33-year-old Negron (22-3, 18 KOs) won a second straight bout by knockout after suffering back-to-back knockout defeats to Dominic Breazeale and Brian Howard. In his previous appearance, Negron knocked out then-unbeaten Robert Alfonso in the first round March 7 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

The 35-year-old Rios (11-3, 8 KOs), a native Mexican who resides in San Diego, lost by knockout for the first time in six years as a pro.

Rios cracked Negron with a straight right hand about 30 seconds into the second round. Rios took a knee 1:01 into the second round, which he claimed was caused by Negron hitting him on the back of his head.

Negron nailed him with a straight right to the middle of his face just before he went down. Rios was given time to recover and continued, but he was knocked down with 1:27 to go in the second round after Negron landed a left hook.

Rios got up again and tried to fend off Negron’s onslaught, but Barragan stepped between them to stop the bout because Rios wasn’t defending himself.

Negron landed a left hook and then a chopping right hand with just over a minute remaining in the first round. Rios came back with a right uppercut several seconds later.

Just before the first round concluded, Negron caught Rios with a left hook that seemed to knock Rios off balance. 

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.