Exciting British light heavyweight Anthony Yarde scored an emphatic fifth-round stoppage of Travis Reeves at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Friday.

A powerful right hand rocked Reeves in the fourth and the American was unable to recover. Sensing the moment, Yarde continued to blast away on the target with heavy power shots until referee Marcus McDonnell had seen enough. The official time was 0:48.

Yarde found his rhythm from the get-go and only got sharper as the bout progressed. Reeves was game but he was completely out of his depth against a bigger, better and more explosive opponent.

The 27-year-old Yarde is highly-touted and could be in line for a WBO title shot against Sergey Kovalev in the very near future.

“I’m making it look good, but I’m learning on the job,” said Yarde (18-0, 17 knockouts). “I’ve been a professional for three years, only 12 amateur fights, that’s never been done before.

“My foot’s in the door and I’m already ranked No. 1 by the WBO. Soon I think I’ll be mandatory, and it don’t really matter the man behind the belt. For me it’s the title and Kovalev is the world champion so that’s what we’re aiming for.”

Undercard

Welshman Liam Williams scored a devastating second-round stoppage of Joe Mullender to retain his British middleweight championship. The official time was 1:09.

Williams (20-2-1, 15 KOs) took the first round, dominating the action easily from the outside and his left hook to the body was memorable. In the second, a sharp right uppercut stunned Mullender and the follow-up was clinical. The challenger went down under a hail of punishment and referee Robert Williams should have known better than let the action continue. Unfortunately he did and Williams crossed over a devastating right hand to the jaw which forced the third man to stop the fight immediately.

Rising heavyweight star Daniel Dubois scored a career-best victory, knocking out former heavyweight title challenger Razvan Cojanu in two rounds. The official time was 2:48.

Dubois, only 21 years of age, is tipped for very big things in the glamor division and this performance was impressive. After winning the opening session, the 240-pound Englishman moved through the gears and hurt Cojanu to the body in Round 2. The referee had warned Dubois about low blows and one or two shots definitely appeared to drift below the belt just prior to the left-right combination which ended the fight.

Rumors abound of a potential matchup between Dubois (10-0, 9 KOs) and fellow unbeaten prospect Nathan Gorman. That is a heavyweight dustup to savor.

Tom Gray is Associate Editor for Ring Magazine. Follow him on Twitter: @Tom_Gray_Boxing

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