Josh Taylor cruised to victory over Ryan Martin with a seventh-round stoppage on home soil.
The Tartan Tornado looked to be in the process of establishing an unassailable lead on the scorecards before a furious barrage of punches ended proceedings in the seventh, as a dazed Martin was pummelled ruthlessly into submission.
It was a patient start from the Scotsman, who was moving well and landing the only meaningful punches throughout the early rounds as American counterpart was seemingly unable to pull the trigger despite attempting to press the action.
As the fight approached the middle stage, Taylor inevitably grew in confidence and began to bang the body with more conviction while his opponent, it has to be said, offered precious little in the way of return fire.
It was altogether a largely disappointing performance from Martin, who came into the fight boasting an undefeated record but appeared to be somewhat out of his depth in the face of Taylor’s punishing combinations.
Nevertheless, the Glasgow crowd were more than satisfied with the early dominance of the Tartan Tornado, and the audible excitement in the SSE Arena reached a deafening crescendo as the Tartan Tornado alternated barrages of punches downstairs and upstairs with ferocious intensity.
Abel Sanchez’s earnest admonishments in the corner in between rounds appeared to do little to inspire his fighter, who was looking increasingly lost as Taylor upped the tempo, opening up a cut on Martin’s eyebrow in the sixth.
Although the American was able to occasionally string together some connecting punches, the fight never seriously appeared to be in danger of slipping out of Taylor’s hands.
The coup de grace was applied in the seventh, as a powerful looping left hand from Taylor sent Martin reeling into the ropes.
Although the finishing blow did appear questionable, landing at the back of Martin’s head, referee Victor Loughlin elected to call a halt to the thoroughly one-sided affair and there were no visible remonstrations on the part of Martin’s team.
Taylor now advances into the tournament semi-finals, where he will be facing formidable IBF champion Ivan Baranchyk, who brutalised Anthony Yigit last weekend in a seven-round demolition job for the vacant belt.
Report by: Navi Singh
Follow Navi on Twitter at: @DarkMan________