There was disappointment for fellow Briton Connor Hughes, although, as he was stopped within the fourth spherical of his light-weight title bout with Poland’s Jakub Kaszuba.
Liverpool’s Hughes began brightly, dropping his 29-year-old opponent within the first spherical with a left hook and once more within the second with an uppercut.
However Kaszuba, final yr’s champion, took management within the third, touchdown a takedown early within the spherical and controlling the motion on the bottom with quite a few elbows.
The identical sample adopted within the fourth spherical as he took the battle to the bottom once more, attacking relentlessly with elbows, earlier than the referee stepped in to finish the competition.
Kaszuba joked “give me extra elbows” in his post-fight interview, earlier than revealing he fought with torn ligaments in his leg, which “was painful regardless of the adrenaline”.
Whereas he prolonged his unbeaten document to fifteen by retaining his title, the 27-year-old Hughes suffered the second defeat of his 12-fight profession.
