Jorge Silva lasted about as long against Anthony Yarde as anyone could’ve expected of a 40-year-old opponent who took this difficult fight on two days’ notice.

The British light heavyweight contender pounded away on the overmatched Silva, dropped him and stopped him in the second round of their 10-round bout Saturday night on the Zhilei Zhang-Joe Joyce undercard at OVO Arena Wembley in London. Referee Marcus McDonnell officially halted the fight at 2:07 of the second round.

England’s Yarde (24-3, 23 KOs) easily won his first fight since his eighth-round TKO loss to IBF/WBC/WBO 175-pound champ Artur Beterbiev (19-0, 19 KOs) on January 28 at OVO Arena Wembley. Portugal’s Silva (22-9, 12 KOs) lost by knockout for the fourth time in a professional career that began 19 years ago.

Silva replaced Yarde’s original opponent, England’s Ricky Summers (19-3-1, 6 KOs), on Thursday.

A right hand to the side of his head sent Silva to the canvas with 1:05 to go in the second round. Silva got up before McDonnell counted to 10, but the veteran referee still waved an end to the one-sided action.

Yarde unloaded an array of body and head shots on Silva in the opening minute of the second round.

Yarde landed two right hands as Silva bent over, into the ropes, about 1:20 into the opening round. McDonnell warned Yarde for pushing down on Silva as he threw those shots.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.