On the biggest night of his career to date, Edinburgh’s Lee McGregor produced a sensational performance, dropping European bantamweight champion Karim Guerfi three times en route to a scintillating first round victory at Bolton Whites Hotel on Friday night.
McGregor’s exquisite body-punching proved the catalyst with scything left hooks dropping Frenchman Guerfi twice in a high-paced and riveting opening session.
With Guerfi (29-5, 9 KOs and 1 NC) backed up under ferocious pressure, the Scot closed the show with a left hook upstairs. Guerfi rose unsteadily at nine before the fight was waved off by referee John Latham.
Now the reigning British, Commonwealth and European 118lbs champion, the razor-sharp McGregor (10-0, 8 KOs) looks more than ready for world honours.
“I said through the build-up that people were going to see a completely new Lee McGregor,” said the new champion afterwards. “My physical strength, my mental strength has improved so much. I’m living the life. I’m a proper professional now. [Trainer] Ben [Davison] has opened my eyes to so much. I was doing things so wrong that I thought were right.
“I’m one of the very few who takes the risks. I fought for the Commonwealth title in my fifth fight and my first professional title in my fourth fight. If you take the risks, you will get the reward. If you are good enough and think you are good enough, step up and take the challenges. I have never shied away from any challenge and I never will.
“I’m not scared to lose. Many people are. I go into the ring and I am 100 per cent confident I will win. I can’t thank Ben enough. I have improved so much in six months. I can’t wait to see where I will be in 12 months’ time.”
Earlier in the evening, in-form Yorkshireman Maxi Hughes continued his career renaissance with an eighth-round stoppage win over Paul Hyland Jr. to claim the vacant British lightweight title.
But the ending was laced with controversy. In the eighth, Hyland drooped after a body shot, but didn’t touch down and turned away from the action. Referee Mark Lyson initially pointed Hughes to a neutral corner before waving the contest back on.
Hyland (20-3, 7 KOs) had his back turned and Hughes, following the referee’s instruction and within his rights, landed a right hand that decked the Northern Irishman. He rose at nine, but the fight was halted by the third man.
The Belfast man’s corner were understandably furious with Lyson’s indecision though the Yorkshireman had done nothing wrong. Hughes (23-5-2, 5 KOs) had seemed on course for victory up to the unusual finale.
The evergreen Hughes earned his third big win on the spin, having shocked the world-rated Jono Carroll (W10) and previously unbeaten Vitktor Kotochigov (W10) in a fine 2020.
“I live the life, took the opportunity when it came and now look at this,” said Hughes. “Hard work, sacrifice, paid off. I had a goal of not only winning the British title, but to just keep achieving. I knew I could get these big wins on a big stage. My message is ‘stick at it. keep grinding’. This is my eleventh year. I didn’t give up.”
Earlier, super-lightweights Jamie Robinson and Billy Allington drew a competitive affair. Referee Howard Foster scored 76-76. Allington boxed brightly on the back foot with Robinson’s pressure and aggression in the middle rounds his best period in an even fight.
Undefeated super-bantam Shabaz Mahoud dropped Louis Norman three times on his way to a fourth-round victory. Mahoud scored one knockdown in the third before two more in the following, fateful round.
Former Commonwealth bronze medallist Sean Gerard Duffy shrugged off a laceration over his left eye to stop Paul Holt with a body shot in the third round of a lightweight encounter.
Super-welterweight Nathan Bendon took the unbeaten record of Poland’s Eryk Apresyan. Referee Mark Lyson scored 57-56 with the Pole crucially deducted a point for throwing his opponent to the floor in the sixth.
Main image: MTK Global.