NEW YORK – Jalil Hackett continued the strong start to his promising career Saturday night.

The 19-year-old Hackett basically beat up previously undefeated Jose Belloso for nearly two full rounds, until referee Arthur Mercante Jr. understandably stopped their six-round welterweight bout. Mercante halted the action at 2:20 of the second round on the Gervonta Davis-Rolando Romero undercard at Barclays Center.

Washington D.C.’s Hackett, one of Mayweather Promotions’ top prospects, improved to 4-0 and recorded his third knockout. Belloso, of Rogers, Arkansas, slipped to 4-1 (4 KOs) after providing very little resistance against Hackett.

Hackett landed multiple power punches that made Mercante step between them while a backtracking Belloso was still standing in the final minute of the second round.

Hackett had continued to pick apart Belloso during the second round. He bashed Belloso with a right hand that knocked him into the ropes just before the midway mark of the second round, which Mercante counted as a knockdown because the ropes held him up.

Hackett spent the second half of the first round hammering a retreating Belloso with left hooks and right hands.

Hackett nailed Belloso with a hard right to the body just before the halfway point of the opening round. Hackett caught Belloso with a left hook less than 10 seconds into their bout, which kept Belloso on his back foot for the remainder of the round.

In the bout before Hackett’s win, Cincinnati’s Adrian Benton beat Jose Antonio Meza by unanimous decision in a six-round junior welterweight fight.

Benton (7-0, 4 KOs) won by scores of 59-55, 58-56 and 58-56. Mexico’s Meza (8-7, 2 KOs) is 2-4 in his past six bouts, but he has not been knocked out in eight years as a pro.

In the first fight Saturday night, New York’s Arnold Gonzalez remained unbeaten when he edged Tracey McGruder by split decision in a six-round welterweight bout.

Gonzalez (10-0, 5 KOs) won their closely contested bout on two scorecards (58-56, 58-56). McGruder (6-3, 4 KOs), of Rochester, New York, won by the score of 59-55 on the other card.

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