Austin Williams overcame a slow start Saturday night and beat up River Wilson-Bent until Wilson-Bent’s trainer wisely threw in the towel during the eighth round.

Williams, a Milwaukee native who lives and trains in Houston, dropped Wilson-Bent early in the seventh round. Wilson-Bent survived that trouble, but Williams continued his assault on a fading Wilson-Bent in the eighth round.

Referee Howard Foster officially stopped their 10-round super middleweight match at 1:01 of the eighth round on the Anthony Joshua-Jermaine Franklin undercard at O2 Arena in London.

Williams (14-0, 10 KOs) scored a technical knockout after winning each of his previous two bouts, both 10-rounders, by unanimous decision. Wilson-Bent (14-3-1, 6 KOs), of Coventry, England, fought for the second time in just three weeks and lost by TKO for the second time in his past three fights.

The 26-year-old Williams’ win is expected to lead to a fight against England’s Felix Cash sometime this summer. Cash (16-0, 10 KOs) was supposed to battle Italy’s Matteo Signani (32-6-3, 12 KOs) on the Joshua-Franklin undercard Saturday night, but Cash withdrew from their fight for Signani’s EBU middleweight title during fight week due to an illness.

Williams unloaded shots to Wilson-Bent’s body and head in the eighth round, which caused Wilson-Bent’s trainer to throw in the towel.

Williams drilled Wilson-Bent with a left hand that made him cover up with 15 seconds remaining in the seventh round. After dropping Wilson-Bent earlier in the seventh round, Williams’ right uppercut buzzed him with just over 1:10 to go in that round.

Williams’ left hand staggered Wilson-Bent and sent him to the canvas with 2:24 on the clock in the seventh round. Wilson-Bent intentionally spit out his mouthpiece once he got to this feet, which bought him some more time to recover.

Wilson-Bent’s right hand connected with about 30 seconds remaining in the sixth round. A straight left by Williams landed with just over a minute to go in the sixth round.

Williams nailed Wilson-Bent with two flush left hands in the final 15 seconds of the fifth round.

Wilson-Bent’s right hand backed up Williams with just under 1:10 to go in the fifth round. Williams answered Wilson-Bent’s right hand with a right hook barely a minute into the fifth round.

Williams drilled Wilson-Bent with a left hand that knocked him into the ropes with 40 seconds to go in the fourth round.

A cut opened over Wilson-Bent’s right eyebrow earlier in the fourth round. Williams’ straight left backed up Wilson-Bent 1:15 into the fourth round.

Wilson-Bent blasted Williams with a right hand when there were about 30 seconds to go in the third round.

Wilson-Bent drilled Williams with a straight right 45 seconds into the third round. Wilson-Bent and Williams were warned 15 seconds into the third round for holding and hitting.

Williams mostly missed with his power shots in the second round. Wilson-Bent worked off his jab in the second round, but Williams’ jab backed him up with a minute to go in that round.

Williams landed several straight lefts to Wilson-Bent’s body during the first round.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.