The question was never whether Nikki Bascome would beat Donny Miller, but rather would his West Virginian opponent be able to go the distance in their six-round welterweight bout.

Bascome put paid to that in a ruthless and convincing fashion, scrambling his opponent’s senses with a flurry of punches and sending him stumbling against the ropes, bringing an end to another one-sided contest towards the end of the second round.

The Bermudian was never threatened by the one-dimensional Miller, a brave, come-forward fighter, who is what is known in boxing vernacular as a journeyman; a trial horse for fresh and hungry hopefuls such as Bascome.

But to suggest that Bascome had simply beaten-up another “bum” — having been criticised for the calibre of his opponents in the past — would be doing Miller a disservice.

At 40 years old, with 28 bouts under his belt prior to facing Bascome at Berkeley Institute on Saturday night, Miller represented a definite step up in knowhow from Bascome’s previous opponents, largely novices and Muay Thai fighters.

And to put Bascome’s eye-catching win in perspective, it took Dan Karpency, the brother of Tommy Karpency — a three-times world title challenger — four rounds to dispose of the durable Miller in their bout in West Virginia two weeks ago.

Miller appeared to still be carrying some bumps and bruises on his forehead from that encounter and was soon wearing a few more as Bascome’s continually tagged the American with lightening fast jabs during the opening round.

Sensing Miller carried little or no threat, Bascome went on the offensive in the second, creasing Miller with a spiteful body shot before moving upstairs and forcing him to the canvas after a double left hook.

Miller was soon up on his feet and pawing forward, head bowed, trying to force Bascome on the back foot with little or no success, and was sent careering across the ring after a series of thunderous right hands.

Hurt and slumped against the ropes, his left leg twitching horribly, Miller was put out of his misery by referee Steve Smoger to extend Bascome’s undefeated record to five wins.

Bascome said he had simply carried out the instructions of his coach Allan “Forty” Rego, to finish the job if the opportunity presented itself.

“I knew I had to be careful as I knew he would be throwing looping shots, so I just stuck off the jab,” Bascome said.

“I caught him with some good body shots to wear him down and a few uppercuts, and I saw in his eyes that he couldn’t handle it. He was giving me too many openings so I took them.”

Bascome, 26, praised Miller for venturing into the “lion’s den” and fighting in Bermuda and said he hopes to return to the ring earlier in the new year.

“A lot of guys don’t want to come down here as they don’t want to lose their winning record, or they don’t have passports,” Bascome added.

“I definitely want to get back in the ring as soon as possible, preferably January or February. It would be nice if it was in Bermuda but if I have the opportunity to go away, then yeah.”

Rego said he was impressed with Bascome’s killer instinct in the second round.

“I thought the guy might have had a little more but he didn’t.” Rego said. “The power of the punch always gets respect and the minute Nikki starting throwing those double left hooks, he couldn’t stay.

“Nikki is capable of going anywhere, going all of the way, he just needs more fights in Bermuda so he can show himself.”

Miller was equally complimentary of Bascome’s ruthless display and believes he has plenty of potential.

“I didn’t know much about him, I knew he was young and he was a tough guy,” he said.

“I think I’m probably the hardest competition he’s faced. I’ve been in there with world champions. I think he’s ready.”