Tim Tszyu lived up to his lofty billing stopping Bowyn Morgan in the opening round of their scheduled 10-round junior middleweight contest at the Bankwest Stadium in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia.

Tszyu, who is rated No. 10 by The Ring at 154 pounds, appeared calm and relaxed throughout the introductions, but after a quite start he sprang into action with a combination that was punctuated by a vicious left that dropped Morgan.

The shell-shocked New Zealander was unable to continue and the official time of the stoppage was 1:54.

“It was countless hours in the gym,” Tszyu (17-0, 13 knockouts) told a local TV station. “This doesn’t happen without all the hard training that I do. I was just getting started.

“You guys know what’s next… the world title, here in Sydney. I’m Aussie-born, and I wanna be an Aussie – for my Russian fans also, upmost respect to you guys, too – this is for everyone.”

The unbeatenn contender signed off with a special word for his father, Kostya Tszyu, the former undisputed junior welterweight champion, who was watching in Russia.

“Papa, ty schastliv?” Meaning “Dad, are you happy?”

Bowen falls to 21-2 (11 KOs).

Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at [email protected] and you can follow him on Twitter @AnsonWainwright

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