NEWCASTLE'S Chad Bennett fell short in his quest for the International Boxing Organisation Asia Pacific junior welterweight title for the second time in as many weeks after suffering a fourth-round TKO to Steven Wills last night.
Bennett took the fight on short notice after a unanimous points decision over former IBO world lightweight champion Aldo Rios on November 21.
He was knocked down three times before referee Garry Dean called a halt.
Bennett, 36, had hoped to fight Rios for the belt but was unable to secure the IBO's sanction and agreed to fight Wills for the vacant title on the main undercard to the Roy Jones jnr-Danny Green bout at Acer Arena.
But Wills was too good and knocked down Bennett in the opening round and twice more in the third round.
The unbeaten 25-year-old from the Central Coast then finished the job 42 seconds into the fourth round.
"Chad Bennett took this fight on five days' notice," Wills said afterwards. "He just beat a good fighter last week so I wanted to get him out of there."
Also last night, highly rated Blacktown-based lightweight Will Tomlinson stopped American Verquan Kimbrough in the third round of an action-packed fight.
The other fighter from the Jones camp, Rayco Saunders, secured a points decision over Tongan light-heavyweight Walter Pupu'a.
The other two fights a light-middleweight bout between Ryan Waters and Newcastle boxer Tui Leveni, and a light-welterweight fight between Rey Anton Olarte and Sedat Tasci were both draws.
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