Nikki Bascome lost in the first round to unbeaten American Tahmir Smalls in Atlantic City on Saturday night.

Smalls was the taller of the two boxers in the fight, which can be seen from 1hr 27min in the above video, and started more aggressively, catching underdog Bascome with straight left jabs to the body and head.

Bascome responded with a left-right combination of his own before Smalls caught the Bermudian with a left hook. This was followed by a five-punch combination, starting with another left hook, which connected flush on Bascome’s face causing him to stumble on to the ropes and eventually to the canvas, where he was counted out by the referee only 1min 13sec into the scheduled eight-round welterweight contest.

After he had been cleared by the medics at ringside, Bascome, who suffered only the second loss of his professional career, spoke briefly to The Royal Gazette.

“I am glad for being given the opportunity to fight at short notice,” said the 34-year-old whose record falls to 13-2. “I gave it my all in training but lost to a better fighter. Now I will go home and train harder.”

Smalls, 25, looks to have a bright future in the welterweight division after taking his record to a perfect 14-0 with ten knockouts.

“I wasn’t trying to make it look easy,” Smalls said in his post-fight interview.

“We put in the work in the gym and I guess it paid off exactly how it was supposed to.

“My team was telling me to fight smart, not to make too many smart moves but if I see it to take it. I ended up seeing it, so I took it.

“I was waiting for him to throw a shot that I could counter and I just tried to take advantage. I appreciate my opponent and that he came out here all the way from Bermuda. I appreciate him.”