By Miguel Assuncao
O2 Arena, London - Unbeaten junior welterweight prospect Conor Benn (3-0, 2KOs), the son of British great Nigel Benn, put in a brutal first round knockout of Lukas Radic (3-7-1).
Benn came out firing in the first round, and landed several hard shots to put Radic down. Radic beat the count and then Benn jumped right one him with a huge hook that sent Radic down and out, face first on the mat.
Benn turned pro in April with a first round stoppage of Ivailo Boyanov in the first round at the O2 Arena, and then returned in May with a four round unanimous decision over Luke Keleher at the SSE Hydro in Scotland.
ON THE UNDERCARD
In his first fight since losing by way of a TKO in the seventh to current IBF world champion Anthony Joshua, the always dangerous Dillian Whyte (17-1, 14KOs) knocked out Ivica Bacurin (25-9-1, 15KOs) in the sixth round.
Whyte applied a lot of pressure in the opening round and took the fight to Bacurin, who was mostly in survival mode and using his legs just to stay away from the punishment. Bacurin was starting to fall apart by the sixth, when he appeared to be gassed and losing steam. A big right hand against the ropes put Bacurin down for the count.
This was also Whyte's first fight since having surgery on his left shoulder due to an injury suffered in his loss to Joshua. The rehabilitation kept him on the shelf since last December.
Anthony Ogogo (9-0-0, 5KOs) steps up his return from injury with a win over Frane Radnic (11-2-0, 10KOs), whose corner threw in the towel at the end of the first round.
The London 2012 Olympic bronze medallist has only boxed twice in the last 24 months due to a combination of achilles and shoulder injuries, and seemed keen to impress as he sent Radnic to the canvas with a flush left hook just before the bell in the opening round.
Radnic - who had never been stopped - beat the count but didn't recover sufficiently to his corner's liking and was retired to the delight of the vocal Ogogo support.
Ogogo, 27, is now looking to build momentum and stay busy for the remainder of the year.
Kal Yafai tunes up for a potential autumn super flyweight world title challenge with an emphatic first round stoppage win over Hungary's Jozsef Ajtai (15-3-0, 10KOs).
The Birmingham man was in no mood to work overtime as he took control of centre ring, landing a thundering left hook to the body to send his Budapest-based challenger to the mat.
Ajtai, 19, took China's Zou Shiming the distance in his last outing, but he was unable to cope with Yafai's power and was grounded with another bodyshot before the referee waved off the contest with 1.42 on the clock in the first.
Yafai is expected to fight Kohei Kono or McJoe Arroyo for a world title in Birmingham on October 27.
Welterweight Ted Cheeseman (4-0-0, 3KO) chalks up his third victory of the year with a fifth-round technical knockout of Danny Little (4-17-2, 0KO) to get the undercard action underway at the 02 Arena, London.
The 20-year-old Bermondsey boxer dominated from the off and had his opponent back-peddling with a uppercut to left combination in the first round.
Little – from Yorkshire – tried to press on the front foot in the second and was made to pay when he was sent to the canvas from a crisp left hook before shipping a succession of right hands in the third.
Cheeseman was reminded he was in a fight when he was caught by a sneaky uppercut in the fourth but finished the job in the fifth, landing another pinpoint right hand that had his opponent turning his back on the action, leaving the referee no option but to bring proceedings to a halt.