Arsen Goulamirian stopped Constantin Bejenaru after the end of the ninth round Saturday night at the Palais des Sports in Marseille, France.

With the victory, Goulamirian (26-0, 18 knockouts) successfully defended his WBA world cruiserweight title.

Saturday’s clash came six weeks after Goulamirian dominated Kane Watts of Australia before knocking him out in round four in Paris. The knockout of Bejenaru was also Goulamirian’s sixth consecutive knockout victory and eighth in his last nine bouts.

The southpaw Bejenaru was game from the opening bell, looking to connect with left hooks behind a jab. By the fourth round, Goulamirian’s pedigree and punching power swung momentum in his favor.

Goulamirian, who is of Armenian descent and has become a draw in France, began walking Bejenaru down, connecting with several right hands to the head. Midway through round six, a right hand followed by a combination stunned Bejenaru, forcing the Moldova-born fighter to hold on.

The 32-year-old continued battering Bejenaru until round nine, when a left hook to the head dropped Bejenaru to the canvas. Bejenaru was able to beat the count and fought on until the bell sounded to end the round.

After consulting a ringside physician, referee Oliver Brien stopped the fight prior to the start of round 10, saving Bejenaru from taking more punishment. At the time of the stoppage, Goulamirian was up on all three scorecards, 87-83, 87-83, and 96-94.

Saturday night marked Goulamirian’s second title defense. He is trained by Abel Sanchez in Big Bear Lake, California.

Bejenaru, who now resides in Brooklyn, New York and is promoted by Dmitriy Salita, suffers his first loss as a pro and drops to 14-1, 4 KOs.

Unbeaten junior middleweight Dylan Charrat dominated former welterweight contender Dmitry Mikhaylenko of Russia before the fight was stopped in round eight.

Charrat (20-0-1, 6 KOs), who resides in Cannes, France was coming off a second-round knockout victory of Johan Perez on Nov. 15, battered Mikhaylenko in a corner until referee Jerome Lades stepped in and stopped the bout. He is currently ranked No. 11 by the WBA.

Mikhaylenko (23-6, 10 KOs) has now lost six of his last eight bouts after winning his first 21 bouts.

Fringe junior middleweight contender Ahmed El Mousaoui defeated Vaghinak Tamrazyan by unanimous decision over 10 rounds.

Scores were 98-92, 98-92, and 99-91 for the 29-year-old El Mousaoui, who improves to 32-3-1, 7 KOs. He has now won his last eight bouts since losing by split-decision to Ceferino Rodriguez in December of 2016.

Tamrazyan, who is originally from Armenia and now resides in Vladimir, Russia, has now lost his last three fights and drops to 16-7, 4 KOs.

In middleweight action, 21-year-old Bruno Surace thrilled the hometown crowd of knocking out Giorgi Khutsishvili (5-10, 2 KOs) of Georgia in round six to improve to 15-0-2, 3 KOs.

Promoter of the card was Univent Production, which is run by Sebastien Acaries.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing