MONTREAL -- Custio Clayton produced a quick and impressive victory in his first appearance in the main event on a pro boxing card.
The Dartmouth, N.S., welterweight stopped former French national champion Stanislas Salmon with two knockdowns in the second round of the scheduled eight-round bout in an easy win Thursday night at the Montreal Casino.
"That was amazing," said the six-time Canadian amateur champion, who is 6-0 with five knockouts since he turned pro in 2014. "The people here were great and it was a great feeling to come out and have a great show like I did.
"Hopefully the next show will be bigger and better."
Using his mix of speed and technique, Clayton was too much for Salmon (25-4-2), a tall, reedy 31-year-old who had won three bouts in a row since losing his French title in 2012.
Clayton set the tone from the beginning, slipping punches through the middle repeatedly and dropping Salmon with a left to the body at the end of a combination late in the first round.
He opened the second with another knockdown with a right to the body and finished it with a barrage that sent Salmon to the floor and ending the bout, drawing a hearty ovation from the crowd of more than 600 in the intimate casino cabaret.
"We knew the jab and the body would be there and, him having a smaller frame, I knew I could break him to the body," said Clayton.
Clayton has needed only eight rounds to win his last five fights after going the four-round distance in his first pro bout on Dec. 19, 2014 against Haoud Sophyan.
The 28-year-old former Canadian Olympian has been taking on progressively tougher opponents in a bid to fast-track into the world top-10 rankings by the end of this year.
He is expected to be back at the casino in March for his next bout.
Super-middleweight prospect Erik Bazinyan of Laval, Que., pounded Michael Ludwiczak for eight rounds for a clear unanimous decision, but could not put the game Pole on the canvas.
"We're testing him and he passed easily tonight," said Bazinyan's co-trainer Otis Grant. "The guy was tough. A lot of guys would have gone down or quit. Erik needs that kind of fight to get to the next level. After this, he needs to go 10 rounds."
The card marked the return of boxing to the Montreal Casino. Promoter Yvon Michel hopes to stage cards every two months aimed at developing new talent.
There was a major disappointment as Canadian heavyweight champion Dillon Carman (9-2-0) of Mississauga, Ont., was forced to withdraw from a non-title bout with Eric Barrak (8-3) of Longueuil, Que., due to an illness. Carman's co-promoter, former undisputed heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis, watched the card from a ringside table nonetheless.
Quick-handed super-bantamweight Yoni Sherbatov of Laval, Que., had an impressive pro debut, dominating Juan (Zorrillo) Benitez (2-6) of Mexico before it was stopped by the referee Steve St-Germain in the fourth round.
Two women boxers from Winnipeg split their bouts, with former WBC women's champ Olivia Gerula (17-15-2) winning all six rounds on all three cards against Lucia Larcinese (7-11-1) of Montreal and Christina Barry (0-3-0) dropping a unanimous four-round decision to Marie-Eve Dicaire (2-0-0) of Terrebonne, Que.
Super-middleweight Dario Bredicean of Cape Coral, Fla., won all six rounds over Jaudiel Zepeda of Indio, Calif.
A previous series at the casino was a launching pad for several world champions, including Lucian Bute, who was among the crowd of about 600.
