Tapia now has 51 victories to his name

"He outclassed me. He'll make some noise in this division."

Although Briggs could not put any kind of attack together, he landed a couple of solid hooks at the start of the seventh and eighth rounds.

"It took me a few rounds to figure him out," said McCline.

"He has a lot of power and I needed some time to assert myself."

McCline landed several solid jabs in the final three rounds, and had Briggs backing up in the 10th as he again put together a couple of hard combinations.

The loss snapped a string of four first-round knockouts by Briggs (36-4-1) against mediocre opposition.

The biggest win of his career was a 12-round decision over George Foreman in 1997.

In his bid against Lewis, Briggs was knocked out in the fifth round.

Medina beaten

Tapia captured the International Boxing Federation featherweight title with a majority decision over Mexico's Medina.

The 35-year-old American has now won five world titles in three weight classes.

Two of the judges at Saturday's Madison Square Garden bout scored the fight 115-113 for Tapia, with a third making it 114-114.

This was despite the fact that the 30-year-old Medina was the busier fighter.

Medina had captured the crown for the fourth time last November when he stopped American Frankie Toledo in the sixth round.

Medina's record is now 60-12 while new champion Tapia has 51 victories against two defeats and two draws.