Padraig McCrory stopped in 69 seconds by Imam Khataev on return to ring

Padraig McCrory suffered a first-round stoppage defeat against Imam Khataev in Quebec City on Thursday, with the fight ending after just 69 seconds.

Khataev dropped and stopped the Belfast boxer to retain his NABF light-heavyweight title at Theatre Capitole.

The defeat came four months after McCrory’s previous appearance in Belfast, which had been billed as his farewell to boxing.

Padraig McCrory suffers early defeat

Fightmag’s ringside results recorded the stoppage at one minute and nine seconds of the opening round.

McCrory’s professional record now stands at 20 wins and three defeats. Khataev improved to 13 wins and one loss, with 12 of his victories coming inside the distance.

The result brought an abrupt end to McCrory’s return against the NABF champion, after he had beaten Ondrej Budera at Belfast’s Waterfront Hall in June.

Iglesias retains world titles on same card

The bout took place on the undercard of Osleys Iglesias’ meeting with Oliver Zaren.

Iglesias stopped Zaren in the seventh round to retain his IBF and IBO super-middleweight titles, extending his unbeaten record to 16 victories.

Elsewhere on the card, Wilkens Mathieu beat Vladimir Shishkin by split decision. Two judges scored the contest 98-92 for Mathieu, while the third favoured Shishkin 97-93.