Laila Ali's second fight was much longer than her first. The result was the same.
The 21-year-old daughter of Muhammad Ali stopped Shadina Pennybaker of Pittsburgh with three seconds left in their four-round bout on Wednesday night before about 2 000 fans at the Mountaineer Race Track and Gaming Resort.
Ali said in the days leading up to the fight that she would knock out Pennybaker, a 28-year-old accounting student from Pittsburgh who was making her pro debut.
Yet she was unable to land any solid blows early and she appeared to plan out every move.
Early in the fourth round, Ali bloodied her opponent's lip and forced a standing eight-count with a series of blows to Pennybaker's head.
Ali finished with a flurry of left-right combinations that sent Pennybaker reeling into the corner and forced the referee to stop the fight.
Pennybaker's corner was upset over the stoppage.
The bout lasted much longer than Ali's debut, when she knocked out April Fowler in 31 seconds on October 8 in Verona, New York.
Ali's father, who watched her first fight from ringside, did not attend Wednesday's bout. Veronica Anderson, Laila's mother, who was Ali's third wife, watched the fight from ringside.