By Francisco Salazar

Unbeaten Radzhab Butaev stopped veteran Lanardo Tyner in round three Friday night at the Live! Casino in Hanover, Maryland.

It was Butaev’s sixth knockout win in his last seven bouts.

After a slow opening round, Butaev closed the distance between the two fighters. Butaev attempted to feint right hands in order for the defensive-minded Tyner to open up and engage.

A left hook by Butaev dropped Tyner about a minute into the third round. Tyner stood up, but was battered against the ropes, prompting referee Kenny Chevalier to stop the fight at 1:48.

Butaev, who is promoted by Lou DiBella and managed by Vadim Kornilov, improves to 11-0, 9 knockouts. Butaev weighed 150 pounds for the Tyner bout, and is currently ranked number eight by the WBA as a welterweight.

The 43-year-old Tyner, who resides in Detroit, Michigan, drops to 35-15-2, 22 KOs. He has lost five of his last eight bouts.

In the main event, fringe super middleweight contender Demond Nicholson stopped Jessie Nicklow in the opening round.

It was a battle for Maryland bragging rights with a regional title belt on the line, but Nicholson was too strong for the Baltimore fighter.

A left hook to the top of the head dropped Nicklow to the canvas. Nicklow (27-10-3, 9 KOs) beat the count on shaky legs, but referee Dave Braslow stopped the bout at 1:16.

Nicholson, who resides in nearby Laurel, improves to 21-3, 20 KOs. He has now won his last three bout since his seventh round knockout defeat to Jesse Hart on Apr. 28.

Heavyweight Jerry Forrest won an eight-round unanimous decision over Grover Young (13-26-3, 9 KOs). Scores were 76-73, 77-72, and 78-71 for Forrest, who improves to 24-2, 19 KOs.

Friday night marked the third time Forrest has faced Young, winning all three bouts.

The scheduled six-round bout between junior welterweights (7-0 1 NC, 2 KOs) and Tyrone Crawley (7-1-1 1 NC) ended in a no-contest in the opening round after Crawley hurt his leg as both fighters fell to the canvas in the midst of a clinch.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing