NZPBA New Zealand Welterweight champion Anthony "TNT" Taylor has taken Daniel Maxwell out - and not for dinner.
The Tauranga professional looked just that in front of a packed house at the inaugural Phil's Place Clash of the Corporates at Memorial Hall on Saturday night, overcoming an awkward opponent in a TKO sixth round decision that served as a perfect tune-up for tougher tests ahead.
Taylor lived up to his nickname throughout a busy six rounds, efficiently chopping down a stifling opponent with head feints and impressive footwork that afforded him the opportunity to blast away at the body.
Maxwell took a fearful beating to the ribs and kidneys, and despite sound defensive skills and the ability to slip punches, grab, and change distances and levels, began to get easier to hit as the accumulation of all the blows took force.
Taylor was leveraging his punches - especially his left hand - with incredible power and swinging for the fences on lunging hooks to the head and uppercuts and hooks downstairs that dropped Maxwell a number of times through an explosive six rounds.