Belfast featherweight Michael Conlan beat Karim Guerfi with a sensational first-round knockout to move a step closer to another world title fight.
Conlan, 31, wobbled his French opponent with a big right before finishing him with a barrage of punches.
The victory at the SSE Arena was an 18th in 19 professional fights for Conlan and his second in 2022.
He beat Miguel Marriaga in August after losing a dramatic world title fight against England’s Leigh Wood in March.
Saturday night’s devastating victory over Guerfi moved Conlan a step closer to another title shot, which was a major motivation before this bout.
His manager and brother, Jamie Conlan, revealed afterwards that the SSE Arena and Madison Square Garden in New York have both been booked for St Patrick’s Day, Friday 17 March, as possible venues for another world title contest.
Conlan was dominant from the first bell, immediately taking control of the bout with his right hand in front of a raucous home crowd in Belfast.
There were two-and-a-half minutes on the clock when he made his move, unsettling Guerfi before hitting him with a number of follow-up blows. That gave the referee no choice but to stop the encounter as the Frenchman swayed and stumbled after getting back to his feet.
‘I’ll fight any world champion’
A euphoric Conlan was in jubilant mood afterwards as he told ESPN+: “I feel good. I feel like I could go tomorrow again, in fact I could go right now because I didn’t really get started and I had a lot more to give.
“Every shot I seemed to land I saw that it was hurting him. It was just a matter of time, I didn’t think it would be done in round number one, but it is a nice early Christmas present to myself.
“It’s my first first-round stoppage so Merry Christmas everybody. The support I had was special. Fingers crossed there will be a world title fight back here on St Patrick’s Day.
“It is nice when a 10-week camp pays off that quickly. I’ll fight any world champion. We just want to fight for a world title again.
“We know what happened in my last one [when Leigh Wood knocked Conlan out of the ring in the final round], it was a challenge, I was a minute-and-a-half away.
“I can’t let that sit in my memory forever, I need to get in and rewrite that and face either Leigh [Wood] or another world champion as soon as possible.”
In the co-main event of the evening, Belfast’s Sean McComb put on a clinical boxing display to outpoint Zsolt Osadan on his way to a comprehensive unanimous decision victory.
‘The Public Nuisance’ was crowned the new WBO European light-welterweight champion, with a big 2023 now potentially on the cards.
Lisburn’s Kurt Walker had earlier claimed a shutout 60-54 points victory over Yader Cardoza, before newly-crowned IBO light-heavyweight champion Padraig McCrory defeated Dmytro Fedas to extend his unbeaten record to 16-0 with a shutout 80-72 points win.
