NEW YORK – Gurgen Hovhannisyan displayed his readiness Saturday night for a hard-hitting heavyweight with more professional experience.

The unbeaten Armenian heavyweight had his way with American Michael Coffie for most of their fight and stopped him on the Deontay Wilder-Robert Helenius undercard at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Hovhannisyan battered Coffie throughout the sixth round, which caused a New York State Athletic Commission physician to stop their scheduled eight-rounder before the seventh round began.

Hovhannisyan (4-0, 4 KOs) didn’t drop Coffie (13-3, 10 KOs), but he busted up Coffie during the final two rounds. Coffie, of Kissimmee, Florida, has lost three of his past four fights, including back-to-back defeats to Jonnie Rice (15-6-1, 10 KOs).

A round before their fight ended, Hovhannisyan’s activity both to the head and body seemed to slow down Coffie during a one-sided fifth round. Coffie and Hovhannisyan traded hard head and body shots during a competitive fourth round they contested mostly on the inside.

Coffie rocked Hovhannisyan with a right hand that made him retreat just before the midway mark of the third round. Hovhannisyan shook his head to indicate he wasn’t badly hurt and bought enough time to recover.

Hovhannisyan caught Coffie with lefts and rights as he backed Coffie into the ropes toward the end of the second round.

Hovhannisyan hammered away at Coffie with power shots about 10 seconds after the halfway point of the first round. Hovhannisyan landed a right uppercut before he began to let his hands go.

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