By Keith Idec
Scott Quigg made a quick, impressive return Saturday night from his second professional defeat.
The former WBA super bantamweight champ stopped Mario Briones in the second round of a scheduled eight-round, 130-pound bout on the Demetrius Andrade-Walter Kautondokwa undercard at TD Garden in Boston.
England’s Quigg (35-2-2, 26 KOs) fought for the first time since suffering a broken nose during a brutal back-and-forth fight with WBO featherweight champ Oscar Valdez seven months ago. Valdez defeated Quigg by unanimous decision in that 12-round, 126-pound championship match March 10 in Carson, California.
Mexico’s Briones (29-8-2, 21 KOs) lost for the third time in four fights, all by knockout or technical knockout.
Quigg went after Briones in the first round. He landed a good overhand right in those opening three minutes, but Briones landed a right hand of his own to get Quigg’s respect.
That didn’t deter Quigg from attacking Briones at the start of the second round.
Quigg landed a left hook early in the second round, which moved Briones back toward the ropes. That’s when Quigg capitalized by landing five powerful punches that ended their scheduled eight-rounder.
Quigg’s right uppercut was followed by a right cross, and then a right-left-right combination that made referee Gene Del Bianco step in to stop the beating Briones was taking. The time of the stoppage was 1:12 of the second round.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
