AKIPRESS.COM - Gennady Golovkin stopped Marco Antonio Rubio in the second round, defending his WBA middleweight title with his 18th consecutive stoppage victory.

Golovkin (31-0, 28 KOs) punctuated his brief West Coast debut with a crushing left hand to the forehead. Rubio tumbled to the canvas and couldn't get his wits together in time, the fight ending 1:19 into the second round, ESPN reports.

'I liked the fight,' Golovkin said. 'Rubio, he does not step back. He is a good fighter. I respect him. It was a very hard punch.'

Gennady Golovkin is a Kazakh boxer who competed in the middleweight division at the 2004 Summer Olympics, where he won the silver medal. Currently undefeated as a professional, he is the WBA and IBO middleweight champion.