British heavyweight Frank Bruno moved closer to his fourth shot at a world title Saturday night with a second-round knockout of American Mike Evans.
For the third consecutive bout, Bruno made quick work of a lightly regarded opponent. Evans was down once in the first round and twice in second, failing to rise in the final seconds of the latter round after Bruno hit him flush in the chin with a left hook."I'm just glad to get it out of the way," Bruno said. "There was a lot at stake for me and anything could have happened. I could have been cut and that would have ruined everything."
Bruno, 39-4 with 38 knockouts, has been in the ring less than nine minutes in victories over Jesse Ferguson, Rodolfo Marin and Evans since losing to World Boxing Council champ Lennox Lewis in October 1993.
The 33-year-old Briton, who weighed a career-high 248 pounds, is now expected to challenge current WBC title-holder, Oliver McCall, in England this summer.
Like Bruno's two previous opponents, the 36-year-old Evans was widely derided as a hand-picked no-hoper. Stepping in as a replacement for Ray Anis with two weeks' notice, the Chicago fighter weighed in at 2701/2 pounds and lost for the 11th time against 30 wins and one draw.
British bookmakers refused to take bets on the fight.