Reece Bellotti scalped previously-unbeaten Aqib Fiaz to earn the vacant Commonwealth super-featherweight title and the Jack Catterall-Jorge Linares undercard at the Echo Arena in Liverpool.
Bellotti’s pressure saw him grind Fiaz down forcing Fiaz’s trainer Jamie Moore to throw in the towel seconds before the end of round eight.
Bellotti, who moved to 17-5 with 14 stoppage wins, had dropped Fiaz in the eighth and although Fiaz climbed back to his feet, Bellotti came in firing and Moore had seen enough.
Promising Peter McGrail, a southpaw super-bantamweight from Liverpool, banked 10 rounds with a wide decision win over Colombian Fran Mendoza, earning the win by margins of 99-91 (twice) and 97-93.
Liverpool’s Tom Farrell was stopped in front of his own fans when Khaleel Majid floored him in round five and round six before referee Steve Gray stopped it in the sixth.
Earlier in the evening, Ricky Hatton’s son Campbell, a super-lightweight, improved to 14-0 victory over a reluctant Jamie Sampson, who was deducted two points for holding before referee Mark Lyson disqualified him in the eighth. Sheffield’s Sampson is now 9-3.
Super-welter William Crolla, brother of former lightweight champion Anthony Crolla, moved to 2-0 taking just 56 seconds to beat Martin Shaw.
Highly-touted bantamweight prospect Jack Turner is now 3-0 (3KOs) following a first-round win over Tanzanian southpaw Adam Yayaha, who is now 23-11-2 and Paddy Lacey improved to 10-0 (2KOs) when he took 100 seconds to defeat Owen Kirk, who was dropped by a left to the body. Kirk is now 3-2-2.
