On Saturday night at York Hall, Callum Johnson (19-1, 14 KOs) was forced to go to war to pick up a second round stoppage of Emil Markic (32-3, 24 KOs).

Johnson was rocked bad and nearly went down, but he rallied to score a brutal stoppage of Markic in the second round.

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The win snapped a long streak of inactivity. Johnson last saw action in March 2019 when he demolishing Sean Monaghan inside three rounds.

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It was his first bout under new promoter Frank Warren, after deciding to part ways with Eddie Hearn of Matchroom.

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Now Johnson wants a crack at newly crowned WBO light heavyweight champion Joe Smith, who recently captured the belt with a decision win over Maxim Vlasov.

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