Khalil Coe knocked out a supposed puncher in less than four minutes of action Saturday in Las Vegas.

The talented light heavyweight prospect dropped Gerardo Osuna three times in the second round and beat the previously unbeaten Mexican by technical knockout on the Conor Benn-Peter Dobson undercard at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Referee Allen Huggins stopped their scheduled eight-rounder at 1:14 of the second round, once Osuna went down for the third time.

The 27-year-old Coe, of Jersey City, New Jersey, improved to 8-0-1 and produced his sixth knockout. Mexicali’s Osuna slipped to 20-1 (18 KOs).

Coe caught Osuna with a right hand to the body that made him take a knee just 29 seconds into the second round. Osuna never really recovered from that punch, but he tried to fight out of the trouble.

Coe caught him with a left hook, however, that sent Osuna down to one knee again with 2:09 to go in the second round. A wincing Osuna got up and tried to continue, but Coe connected with a jab to the body that dropped him to one knee with 1:50 on the clock in the second round.

Huggins stopped the fight after that third knockdown.

Coe protected himself well during the opening round and outboxed Osuna primarily with his jab in those opening three minutes.

A right hand by Coe knocked Osuna into the ropes a little less than a minute into the opening round. Coe snapped back Osuna’s head with a stiff jab barely 20 seconds into their fight.

In the bout before Coe’s victory, British middleweight prospect George Liddard shut out previously unbeaten American Andrew Buchanan on all three scorecards and won their six-rounder by unanimous decision.

Liddard (6-0, 3 KOs), of Billericay, England, out-worked and out-boxed Buchanan throughout their bout and never appeared threatened in any way. Judges Kermit Bayless, Chris Migliore and Dave Moretti all scored Liddard a 60-54 winner.

Buchanan, of Hesperia, California, slipped to 3-1-1 (2 KOs).

In the first fight on the Benn-Dobson undercard Saturday, Jimmy Sains made quick work of Alejandro Avalos, whom he knocked out in the first round of their four-round super middleweight match.

London’s Sains (3-0, 3 KOs) dropped San Antonio’s Avalos (1-3, 0 KOs) twice, both times with right hands, before Huggins stopped their fight with 13 seconds remaining in the opening round.

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