Sandwiched in between the fight weeks of his 140-Pound rivals, Adam Azim simply had to make a statement.

It was Dalton Smith (17-0, 13 KOs) last week, defeating European Title contender Walid Ouizza in a single round at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham.

In two weeks on Feb. 15 it'll be the turn of Jack Catterall (30-1, 13 KOs), who takes on Arnold Barboza (31-0, 11 KOs) in a WBO Interim World Junior Welterweight Title fight at the Co-Op Live Arena in Manchester.

Tonight was the turn of Azim (13-0, 10 KOs), taking on a former IBF 140-Pound Champion in Sergey Lipinets (18-4-1) at Wembley Arena in London. The three fights aren't without their varying degrees of difficulty, granted. But optics matter in boxing. Lipinets had only previously been stopped by IBF Welterweight Champion Jaron Ennis.

Azim became the second man to do so, flooring Lipinets in the third round before halting him in the ninth after a series of swift uppercuts. In doing so Azim kept himself division-relevant with a couple of big world title fights on the horizon to keep watch on at Junior Welter.

The first round was sharp from Azim, shooting in his lightning jab whenever Lipinets dared to split his guard. The Russian used the opener to stalk and put pressure on without throwing anything of note himself.

Azim dedicated more of his time to the body as the fight went on, landing two or three crushing blows to Lipinets' left-hand side in the second round. The speed advantage was evident for all to see, with Azim already in the midst of making his opponent look one-dimensional.

In the third round, Lipinets got bored of slowly applying pressure. He upped the pace and got careless, walking straight into a vicious Azim left hook, and though he partially landed one of his own, the 35-year-old flat was left flat on his back in the middle of the ring.

Lipinets got back up and was afforded a slight reprieve in the fourth as referee Steve Gray took a point from Azim for hitting below the belt.

Azim's right uppercut became the shot of the fifth round, leaving Lipinets' head snapped back on more than one occasion. Azim increased the uppercut count in the next round, marking his opponent up some more.

But the uppercut wasn't the only prominent punch in the fight - so were Azim's shots below the belt. Another point was deducted from the Slough fighter's tally in the seventh. This time Lipinets sank to his knees to take the timeout.

The eighth round was the most brutal yet. Electing to leave Lipinets' body alone entirely, Azim went straight back on the attack with uppercuts, wobbling the Russian to his boots and stumbling him across the ring.

It took a handful more uppercuts for the referee to step in and end proceedings in the ninth. Lipinets' face was a crimson mask at this point, and the final blow looked to have left him completely dazed on his feet.

With 13 wins to his name, 10 by way of knockout, a fight with fellow unbeaten Brit Junior Welterweight contender Dalton Smith looms large later this year.

Azim said on his next fight: "Whatever my team suggest [I'll do next] but you know what? Dalton Smith, you better be watching my friend. You ain't that good my friend, I'm coming.

"When I do fight him I'm gonna teach him a lesson."

On the win, Azim added: "The first knockdown, I didn't know I hit him. I had to be patient. To be world class, you have to be patient. He's a very big puncher and I've got so much respect for him.

"He was going really low, I couldn't see where his belt was, he was small, it was so hard for me to place the shot. But I had to stop them, Shane said 'if you do that again, I'll make you do 100 burpees in the gym'.

"I was working on inside fighting with Shane in the gym. It's really hard to see Lipinets go like that."