Frazer Clarke needed only two rounds to dispose of late stand-in Bogdan Dinu - but it was not the showreel finish he might have hoped for.
Clarke had been boxing well through six minutes, although an early clash of heads had opened up a deep cut on his forehead.
But Dinu did not last long enough afterwards to see if it might have a bearing on the fight as he shipped a heavy body shot which broke one of his ribs.
He complained about the injury as soon as he sat down at the end of the second and his trainer did not hesitate to stop the fight there and then, handing Clarke a TKO via corner stoppage.
Clarke had been expecting to fight Rydell Booker here in Manchester on Sky Sports but when Booker suffered what was described as a serious medical condition he was unable to travel.
So Dinu, a veteran of fights against the likes of Daniel Dubois, Jarrell Miller and Kubrat Pulev, stepped in.
“I want to say thanks to Bogdan for saving the show,” Clarke said afterwards. “Sorry about his ribs and I hope he enjoys Manchester
“I was a little bit gutted that after I landed the body shots I got a little bit close so I couldn’t get the next.”
Clarke had been hoping to box on Sky’s May 6 show in Birmingham, which is headlined by his former amateur team-mate Joshua Buatsi, but the cut may preclude him from doing so.
He added: “I had big jobs for Gucci and Versace modelling next week but that won’t be happening now. We’ll see what happens, I’d love to get on with Buatsi and all my other mates.”
In the English super-featherweight showdown, a bitter build-up made way for a competitive 10-round fight with Michael Gomez Jr claiming a split decision victory over Levi Giles.
A clip from their weigh-in face-off went viral on Friday with Gomez shoving Giles hard in the chest, leaving him flat on his back. But both men stayed on their feet in this clash, with Giles making a fast start but Gomez coming on strong down the stretch.
Mark Lyson scored it 96-95 to Giles but Michael Alexander (97-94) and Bob Williams (97-93) were in agreement that Manchester favourite Gomez did enough to win.
After winning, he immediately apologised for his actions at the weigh-in. He said: “First of all I want to apologise to Levi and his family. Yesterday I planned to get in his face but he was too relaxed and I wanted to show him I was there to do a job. I apologise to him and his family so so much.”
On the fight he added: “I lost the first three but after that I coasted it.”
One man who certainly did not coast was Callum Wilson, who made a splash in his first fight since signing a long-term deal with Boxxer, knocking out Celso Neves in the third round.
Wilson made a fast start to the fight and dropped the Portuguese fighter in the first round. The Barnsley man did not take his foot off the gas and it was only a matter of time before he closed the show.
The finish came after 1:36 of the third when he countered a Neves cross with a perfectly timed right hand of his own which left the visitor unable to continue in the eyes of referee Darren Sarginson.
There were also a string of points win on the undercard for a number of Sky prospects. Karriss Artingstall went 3-0 with a 6x2s win over Linzi Buczynskyj while Aaron McKenna, Rhys Edwards and Shakiel Thompson all won over six threes before the main televised card.