Adam Azim took 66 seconds to blast his way past Anthony Loffet to add to his fast-growing reputation as a would-be superstar in Coventry.
Azim, 20, was having only his fifth fight but having stopped Connor Marsden in double quick time in March, Loffet, from Belgium, also got an early taste of Azim’s power.
A series of rights dropped Loffet in the first 25 seconds, and as Azim continued to land heavy shots, which Loffet, to his credit, stood up to, the Belgian’s corner threw in the towel. This initially was not seen by referee Kevin Parker, but when he eventually did he waved it off.
“If anyone gives me the first shot, you are getting hurt straight away,” Azim said. “That guy came at me, I landed a screw shot and his legs went.”
The fight was scheduled for ten rounds with a minor super-lightweight youth WBC belt on the line.
Olympic bronze medal-winner Karriss Artingstall got her professional career off to a winning start as she dominated Lithuania’s Vaida Masiokaite.
Masiokaite was boxing in the UK for the 23rd time in a row, having only had her hand raised on one of those occasions. Artingstall gave her a tougher night than usual, but she was a class apart, beating her to the punch and landing hard shots and not giving her any easy escapes.
Artingstall went through the gears in the fifth round, landing hard lefts that hurt Masiokaite, although she saw out the six rounds, referee Kevin Parker scoring it 60-54.
Recent Boxxer tournament winner Dylan Cheema extended his unbeaten record to six fights with a 39-37 decision – from referee Chris Dean – over Stu Greener at lightweight. Cheema seemed intent on having a tear-up but after being in charge for the first two rounds, he was caught repeatedly in the third before reasserting himself in the final round.
Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 – covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.