By Miguel Assuncao

O2 Arena, London - British middleweight champion Chris Eubank Jr. (23-1, 18KOs) battered and stopped previously undefeated Tom Doran (17-1, 7KOs) in the fourth round.  Doran went down four times in the contest.

Eubank Jr. showed his speed and accuracy at the star. Doran was not intimidated and did well in spots, but Eubank Jr. was landing very clean shots. In the third round, Eubank really picked up the pace with big punches to the head and body. Doran eventually went down from a barrage of punches. He beat the count, but Eubank was now just looking for the finish with big shots flying with both hands.

During the fourth, series of body shots sent Doran down for a second time. Once again Doran got up and he was crushed by more shots that sent him down a third time. After another series of shots, Doran went down for a fourth time and the fight was waved off.

Eubank Jr. now moves forward to a potential fight against WBC/IBO/WBA/IBF middleweight champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (35-0, 32KOs) in the fall. The negotiations are ongoing between both sides and Eubank's promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport, says a deal is very close.

ON THE UNDERCARD

Unbeaten junior welterweight prospect Conor Benn (3-0, 2KOs), the son of British great Nigel Benn, put in a brutal first round knockout of LukasRadic (3-7-1).

Benn came out firing in the first round, and landed several hard shots to put Radic down. Radic beat the count and then Benn jumped right one him with a huge hook that sent Radic down and out, face first on the mat.

Benn turned pro in April with a first round stoppage of Ivailo Boyanov in the first round at the O2 Arena, and then returned in May with a four round unanimous decision over Luke Keleher at the SSE Hydro in Scotland.

Dillian Whyte (17-1-0, 14KOs) makes his return from injury with a laboured technical knockout win over Ivica Bacurin (25-9-1, 15KOs). The fight was waved off at 2.06 of round 6.

The Brixton 'Body Snatcher' underwent shoulder surgery following his defeat to Anthony Joshua in December, but didn't show any ill affects as he controlled the pace from the opening bell, doubling up his jab to set up meaty right hooks to the body.

Bacurin was a late notice opponent after Danny Batchelder pulled out and the Croat looked to be struggling with the pace in the third round as Whyte caught him with a series of jabs through the guard.

Whyte stunned Bacurin with a left hook in the fourth but the Brixton man was occasionally guilty of telegraphing his overhand right in search of an early finish in his short bursts of work.

Whyte upped his workrate in the sixth and landed a crushing right to the body before connecting upstairs to send Bacurin to the canvas from where he was unable to beat the count.

Whyte, 28, is now looking to challenge for the vacant British heavyweight title later in the year and will be out again on July 30.