Stephan Shaw did enough damage during the sixth, seventh and eighth rounds Saturday night for Joey Dawejko’s trainers to stop their fight early in the final round.

Referee Gerald Ritter halted the action at the request of Dawejko’s corner men at 1:04 of the eighth and final round of a heavyweight fight ESPN+ streamed as part of the Xavier Martinez-Robson Conceicao undercard from Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. St. Louis’ Shaw (16-0, 12 KOs) became just the third opponent to stop Philadelphia’s Dawejko inside the distance during his 12-year, 35-fight pro career.

Dawejko (21-10-4, 12 KOs), who took yet another bout on short notice, lost a second straight bout by knockout. Hard-hitting Kazakh southpaw Zhan Kossobutskiy (17-0, 16 KOs) knocked him out in the second round of his previous appearance, which took place August 21 in Hamburg, Germany.

Shaw, 29, fought for the first time since his co-promoter, Lou DiBella, partnered with Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc. to try to enhance Shaw’s career.

Dawejko tied up Shaw early in the eighth round. Shaw broke free and eventually landed enough power punches to convince Dawejko’s team that he had taken enough punishment.

After battering Dawejko during the sixth round, a confident Shaw let his hands go and had his way with a fading Dawejko again in the seventh round. Dawejko convinced his handlers to let him answer the bell for the eighth round following that one-sided seventh round.

A more aggressive Shaw drilled Dawejko with a right hand that backed him into a corner 1:10 into the sixth round. A distracted Dawejko then took another flush right hand approximately 12 seconds later.

With exactly a minute remaining in the sixth round, Shaw blasted Dawejko with yet another overhand right.

Dawejko caught Shaw with a flush left hook at the midway mark of the fourth round.

Shaw connected with a right hand and then a left hook that prompted Dawejko to counter with a right hand with just over 1:15 on the clock in the third round.

Shaw’s flush right hand knocked Dawejko into the ropes barely 20 seconds into the second round. A straight right by Shaw landed cleanly with just under a minute to go in the second round.

Shaw spent most of a relatively uneventful first round trying to establish his jab.

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