The hard-hitting Belarusian, defending successfully his WBA Intercontinental super-lightweight title, was dominant from the outset and rocked Carneiro’s head back several times.
As the sessions progressed, Relikh’s unleashed further heavy artillery and in the fourth round Carneiro’s corner raised the towel to pull their man out.
Kiryl Relikh, who has a perfect record of 21 contests, 21 wins with 19 inside, is currently ranked at number four in the world’s WBA ratings, and Hatton feels he should have been nominated to fight number one rated Michele Di Rocco for the vacant world title ahead of Ricky Burns, who is rated at number seven.
“I think Kiryl showed his class and I believe he should have gotten the fight with Di Rocco, but I can’t blame Burns and his team for negotiating the fight as they are doing what is best for them,” Hatton stated.
“We’re entitled to take the winner of Burns and Di Rocco within ninety days of their contest and we’ll be ready for either of them.
“Personally, I hope Burns wins and does Scotland proud and then we can hopefully get a shot at him.
“Kiryl’s a man in a hurry. He wants to fight everybody so I don’t think he’ll have any problems going in against Burns or anyone else at the weight.
“He’s go 19 stoppages from 21 fights now, but I think people will be pleasantly surprised when they see him step up a level to world class because I don’t think he’s shown half of what he’s got yet, his fights have been over that quickly.”
