Jamie Moore retained his British light middleweight title with a 10th-round stoppage of Matthew Macklin. Both fighters gave everything but the champion eventually came out on top thanks to a stunning left cross that felled his exhausted opponent.
Birmingham's Macklin left the ring on a stretcher and was taken to the local hospital for precautionary checks.
Moore, from Salford, was making the second defence of the title he won by beating Michael Jones in July 2005.
The fight started at a ferocious pace, Macklin working well to the body while Moore enjoyed early success with the right uppercut.
It was the jab, however, which did the damage for the champion in the second
as he landed two stiff rights that brought down Macklin's guard.
Macklin was throwing plenty but looked a little over-eager and almost paid the
price when he was caught twice coming in midway through the third.
Moore soon switched orthodox briefly but as the punches continued to rain in
he reverted back to his natural southpaw once more.
His still looked marginally the cleaner work, although by the end of the fifth it was still very much in the balance as Macklin backed him up on the ropes.
A stinging left uppercut set the home crowd alight as the fight reached-mid
distance but Macklin was showing his durability as he refused to wilt and came
back with more of his own.
The pace of the fight was even now still increasing and a ferocious exchange
in the eighth saw both men wobble.
 | I'll give this title up now, I've been at this level too long |
Moore looked for an instant to be heavy-legged for the first time before he stormed back to turn the tables again with another stunning uppercut.
Then came the decisive punch.
Macklin was giving it everything as Moore backed him up at the start of the 10th, but was felled by a sweet left that slipped through his guard.
Moore was full of praise for his opponents and insisted Macklin has the ability and heart to go on and win the title in the future - as he plans to relinquish the belt and move up another level.
"I said before the fight he is a quality fighter. I believe I am world class and he's heading to world class," he said.
"He's definitely European class and he'll come back, without a shadow of a
doubt.
"I'll give this title up now, I've been at this level too long and hopefully Frank can engineer me to a European or world title shot.
"At the end I congratulated him and told him what a tough man he was, and he
said the same about me. But, 100%, he'll come back and win the British title."
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