ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey – Shakhram Giyasov of Uzbekistan stopped Argentina’s Franco Ocampo in four rounds to remain on course for the winner of Saturday’s IBF and WBA welterweight title fight between Jaron Ennis and Eimantas Stanionis.

Giyasov, the mandatory challenger to Stanionis’ WBA title, chose to fight despite the death of his infant daughter towards the end of March.

The considerable challenge he was confronting was enhanced on Friday when Ocampo came in three pounds overweight, and yet he excelled throughout to force a one-sided contest and the stoppage one minute and 57 seconds into the fourth round at Boardwalk Hall.

Giyasov dropped Ocampo, 28, towards the end of the first when, after he landed a right to the head and then a left and right to the body, they exchanged left hands that hurt Ocampo and forced him towards a corner. When they continued trading, Giyasov continued to impress, and a right hand inflicted the first knockdown.

The 31-year-old Giyasov was similarly dominant throughout the second and third, when he succeeded to both head and body, and occasionally snapped Ocampo’s head back with his jab.

He applied similar aggression from the start of the fourth, without abandoning his patience, before a right to the body dropped Ocampo again and his body language immediately demonstrated that he would not return to his feet – curiously prompting his corner to tell the referee David Franciosi to rescue him.

“For me, it’s very, very, very hard,” Giyasov said. “It was a very hard camp because I lost my daughter. She’s seeing me. She’s now watching me. She’s praying for me. I promised her … I love her.”

It was at that point that the growing crowd applauded him, moving him to tears.

“It’s for my daughter,” he said with considerable emotion. “Next fight – I promised my daughter I’d be world champion. She believed me. I know this. Give me the chance, I’ll do it.”

Zaquin Moses, the junior-lightweight cousin of Shakur Stevenson, had by then stopped Alex Pallette two minutes and 13 seconds into the second round of their four-round fight.

There was also a stoppage victory for Tahir Smalls, the welterweight who trains alongside Jaron “Boots” Ennis, after 73 seconds of his fight with Earl Bascome. After feeling his power, Bascome was sat upright on the canvas and made no attempt to return to his feet.

The Mexican junior-featherweight prospect Arturo Cardenas forced the intervention of the referee Charlie Fitch 90 seconds into the eighth of eight rounds with Cardenas’ late-notice replacement opponent, Edgar Joe Cortes. The resilient Cortes, who absorbed significant punishment until then, was announced as Christian Carto’s replacement on Thursday, as a consequence of what Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn described as a “medical issue".

Francisco Rodriguez also recorded a stoppage when, at the conclusion of the third round of his lightweight fight with Naheem Parker, Parker’s corner withdrew him to rescue him from further punishment.