In the third round, Taylor rocked Connor with a good hook and then continued to land flush shots as Connor was wobbling all over the place and the fight was quickly waved off.

Also on the card, In a lively rematch of last December’s six round thriller, Conor Benn again beat Frenchman Cedrick Peynaud with an exciting but ragged ten round decision to earn the vacant WBA continental welterweight title at London’s O2 arena.

Peynaud started well and might have taken the opener with pressure from the southpaw stance and a number of jolting right hooks.

Benn fired back in the second, scoring a flash knockdown with a left hook before Peynaud responded well, making ‘the Destroyer’ appear ragged himself before the round ended.

Benn continued to land well with the straight right, a classic weapon against a southpaw before using superior movement to evade Peynaud’s assaults. Still, as the round closed, the Frenchman was landing once again with meaty hooks.

The fourth saw Benn settle down into more measured boxing as trainer Tony Simms implored his young fighter to evade Peynaud’s crude punches.

Peynaud trudged back to his corner at the end of the fifth with a cut above his right eye, with Benn beginning to take control of the contest. This superiority was underlined as Benn floored Peynaud in the seventh with a right to the body.

The crowd urged Benn to finish the fight in the eight, but as the young Brit closed the distance his sometimes untidy technique put him back in danger. Still, it looked as though most of the Frenchman’s will had been expended and in the ninth a crisp right hand buckled Peynaud’s knees and Howard Foster signalled a knockdown.

After ten entertaining rounds the judges scored it 98-91, 98-90 and 97-90 all for the 21-year-old Benn.