By Keith Idec
NEW YORK – Brian Howard wasted no time in annihilating Carlos Negron on Saturday night.
The unknown Howard caught the favored Negron cold with a right hand very early in the first round of their scheduled 10-round heavyweight fight at Barclays Center. Howard pounced on Negron, who never recovered from the first right hand that caused him to back into the ropes.
Howard then drilled Negron with a right hand that left Negron on his side, unconscious and under the bottom rope, for several seconds. Puerto Rico’s Negron eventually was able to get to his feet after suffering a first-round knockout defeat and left the ring on his own.
Referee Shada Murdaugh stopped their fight one minute and six seconds into it.
Puerto Rico’s Negron (20-3, 16 KOs) fought for the first time since Dominic Breazeale beat him by ninth-round knockout in what had been a competitive fight December 22 at Barclays Center. Each of his three losses have come by knockout, but Negron was supposed to beat the 39-year-old Howard on the Adam Kownacki-Chris Arreola undercard.
Howard (15-3, 12 KOs), of Loganville, Georgia, had lost two of his previous three fights. He also had been knocked out by an opponent with a 12-19-1 record in December 2012.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.