Ali Walsh, who won his first two bouts by knockout before claiming an unconvincing majority-decision victory over Reyes Sanchez last month, had little trouble in despatching Yeager during their scheduled four-round bout at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa.

The 21-year-old (4-0, 3 KOs), with new head trainer Richard Sloan in his corner, blasted Yeager with a left-right-left combination towards the end of the opening round before sending him to the canvas with a big left hand in the second.

Yeager (1-2-1, 1 KO) managed to return to his feet and beat referee Gary Ritter's count, only for Ali Walsh to return with an iconic 'Ali shuffle' and big combination to prompt the referee to stop the fight with 21 seconds of the round remaining.

"I didn't plan [the Ali Shuffle]," Ali Walsh said. "It was emotional, of course. So much has been going on, but yeah, I didn't plan on doing that. It's just something that happened.

"I think the main thing was staying calm, which I did. Another thing was head movement and defence, which I felt like I did improve on. I fought last month. So if I can make those small improvements in this such a short amount of time, who's telling what I can do in my next fight?"

Ali Walsh was fighting on the undercard of the WBC super-featherweight title eliminator between Robson Conceicao and Xavier Martinez, which saw the former claim a unanimous decision win.

Conceicao (17-1, 8 KOs) had been aiming to rebound after losing his unbeaten record to WBC title holder Oscar Valdez in his last outing in September and the Brazilian out-boxed Martinez (17-1, 11 KOs) for 10 rounds to record verdicts of 99-91, 100-90 and 98-92 across the three judges' scorecards.

The 33-year-old is now eyeing avenging his previous loss to Valdez, who defends his belt against WBO junior lightweight champ Shakur Stevenson (17-0, 9 KOs) on April 30.

"I had to train extra hard because I knew the challenge he would pose for me tonight," Conceicao said. "More importantly, I was able to be dominant this evening because I put in such hard work because I was motivated.

"I know I should be the champion. I know I beat Oscar Valdez. He has a fight against Shakur Stevenson, and I think Shakur is going to win. But as a fan and a fighter, I want Oscar to win because he owes me a fight."

Sky Sports Boxing schedule

Sunday January 30 in Tulsa
Robson Conceicao vs Xavier Martinez - WBC super-featherweight title eliminator
Nico Ali Walsh

Saturday February 5 in Cardiff
Chris Eubank Jr vs Liam Williams
Claressa Shields vs Ema Kozin - IBF, WBA and WBC middleweight titles

Saturday February 19 in Manchester
Amir Khan vs Kell Brook
Natasha Jonas vs Ewa Piatkowska - WBO super-welterweight title
Frazer Clarke's pro debut

Saturday February 26 in Glasgow
Josh Taylor vs Jack Catterall - undisputed super-lightweight titles
Nick Campbell vs Jay McFarlane - Scottish heavyweight title

Saturday March 5 in Fresno
Jose Ramirez vs Jose Pedraza

Sunday March 20 in New York
Edgar Berlanga vs Steve Rolls
Keyshawn Davis
Xander Zayas