NEW YORK – Teremoana Teremoana learned during his Olympic loss last summer to Bakhodir Jalolov that he shouldn't leave outcomes of his fights in the hands of judges.

The huge Australian heavyweight continued to make sure Saturday night that his professional fights don’t require scorecards. The hard-hitting Teremoana overwhelmed Aleem Whitfield in the first round, dropped him and violently knocked him out only 2:28 into a fight scheduled for six rounds on the Richardson Hitchins-George Kambosos Jr. undercard in The Theater at Madison Square Garden.

Referee David Fields stopped their fight with Whitfield slumped in a neutral corner. Teremoana (8-0, 8 KOs), who has produced five straight first-round knockouts, hurt Whitfield with back-to-back left hooks and drilled him with a right hand that further punished him.

"I'm here to take over the heavyweight division," Teremoana told DAZN's Chris Mannix in the ring. "Obviously, I've gotta go one step at a time up the ladder. But I wanna do it like 'Fight Night,' the game back in the day, like go up the ladder. Beat everyone there, not skip someone, skip someone. That’s what I wanna do. I'm a fighter and I love to fight."

The 6-foot-6, 265-pound Teremoana was added to Saturday’s card after his bout on the Jai Opetaia-Claudio Squeo undercard Sunday in Broadbeach, Australia was scrapped.

Whitfield, 35, lost for the first time during a professional career that was paused for almost 10 years because he spent extensive time in prison. Whitfield (9-1, 6 KOs), of Geneva, New York, won his first two bouts after returning to the ring in 2024, but the former cruiserweight couldn't handle Teremoana's power.

Teremoana is focused on developing at an appropriate pace, however his handlers see fit. He hopes, however, to eventually secure a rematch with Jalolov (15-0, 14 KOs), who won another Olympic gold medal after defeating Teremoana last August in Paris.

"He's a good boxer," Teremoana told The Ring. "I give him all the respect he deserves. He's a two-time Olympic gold medalist. But if it's a real fight, if we fight in the pros, he's not gonna be able to run for 12 rounds."

After tasting his power in the amateurs, Teremoana, 27, isn’t sure the southpaw from Uzbekistan would fight him in the professional ranks.

"I hope it happens," Teremoana said. "Maybe if he gets paid enough he’ll fight me, but I think he'll avoid me because he knows the task ahead of him. Even after the fight, he came up to me and knows I'll get him."

The 6-foot-7, 251-pound Jalolov, 30, is scheduled to battle Italy’s Gianmarco Cardillo (12-1-2, 2 KOs) in a 10-round bout July 26 at The Theater.

In the bout before Teremoana's win Saturday night, junior lightweight prospect Zaquin Moses stopped Carl Rogers in the fourth round of a bout scheduled for six rounds.

Moses dropped Rogers with a right hook just after the midway mark of the fourth round. Rogers reached his feet before referee Eric Dali counted to 10, but Moses, a southpaw from Newark, New Jersey, swarmed him and unloaded various power shots until Dali halted the action.

The official time of the stoppage was 1:51 of the fourth round.

The 20-year-old Moses, a younger cousin of WBC lightweight champ Shakur Stevenson, improved to 4-0 and recorded his third knockout. Rogers (3-3), of Colorado Springs, Colorado, lost by TKO for the second time in less than three months.

Earlier Saturday night, Indian junior middleweight prospect Nishant Dev shut out Josue Silva on all three scorecards to win their six-round bout by unanimous decision. Dev (2-0, 1 KO) won by the same score, 60-54, on each scorecard.

Mexico's Silva slipped to 3-3 (1 KO).