David Avanesyan took advantage of a significant opportunity on Saturday at The SSE Arena in London.
The U.K.-based Russian’s fight against Liam Taylor was elevated to main event status on the Sky Sports card when Anatoli Muratov had to pull out of his fight against Chris Eubank Jr. because of unspecified issues with his medicals.
And Avaneysan shined, taking out Taylor in the second round of their scheduled 12-round welterweight bout.
Avanesyan (28-3-1, 16 KOs) forced Taylor (23-2-1, 11 KOs) to take a knee with a hard right hand in the opening round. And, in the second, a brutal three-punch combination from Avanesyan with Taylor’s back against the ropes prompted referee Mark Lyson to stop the fight.
The official time of the stoppage was 2:18 of Round 2.
Avanesyan, ranked by two of the four major sanctioning bodies, has now won five consecutive fights since he was stopped in six rounds by Egidijus Kavaliauskas in 2018.
Promoters were unable to find a substitute from Muratov at the last minute.
