Robin Safar came into his cruiserweight clash Saturday night claiming that the division lacked a remarkable frontrunner despite featuring unified champions Jai Opetaia and Gilberto Ramirez.

Safar (18-0, 13 KOs), fresh off signing a contract with Golden Boy Promotions and crushing Sergey Kovalev in his last contest, announced his entry as an intriguing contender to keep an eye on by scoring a statement fifth-round stoppage win against Roberto Silva (13-4, 7 KOs) in Cancun, Mexico.

The technical knockout came at the 2:55 mark as referee Javier Espinoza stepped in to stop Safar from unleashing a heavy diet of unanswered shots, the last of which was an uppercut that left Silva slumped in the ropes.

Safar, a 32-year-old Swedish-Kurdish fighter based in Las Vegas, took a calculated and measured approach to his outmatched opponent to get some rounds under his belt because he'd not found since May, his corner admitted during the fight.

By the third round, Silva's face was bloodied and his left eye started to swell as Safar appeared to be fighting at half speed.

In the final seconds of the fifth round, however, Safar pressed on the pace to ensure the bout wouldn't head into the second half by scoring the stoppage.

Safar landed 51 of 140 of his shots, while Silva mustered just 15 of 99 of his punches.