By Keith Idec
Michael Conlan did was he was supposed to do Friday night against an opponent who’s not a full-time boxer.
The 2016 Irish Olympian stopped Kenny Guzman in the second round of a scheduled six-round featherweight fight in Tucson, Arizona. The Conlan-Guzman match was televised by ESPN from the Tucson Convention Center as part of the Oscar Valdez-Genesis Servania undercard.
A right hand by Belfast’s Conlan ended the fight at 2:59 of the second round. Conlan improved to 4-0 and recorded his fourth knockout in a pro career that began six months ago.
Guzman – a Kalispell, Montana, resident who works as a carpenter and boxes part-time – lost for the first time as a pro (3-1, 1 KO).
Conlan connected with a right hand that knocked Guzman off-balance early in the second round. He added a left hand to the body that affected Guzman later in the second round.
A game Guzman kept coming forward, but Conlan drilled him with two hard right hands in the second half of the second round before landing the knockout punch.
Another overhand right by Conlan floored an already bloodied Guzman. He got up before the count of 10, but referee Wes Melton stopped the fight, despite Guzman’s complaints.
Conlan landed a left hand and followed it up with a right hook with a little more than one minute to go in the first round.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
