Flanagan finishes off Cruz in eight
WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan (32-0, 13 KOs) scored a eighth round stoppage win over Puerto Rican challenger Orlando Cruz (25-5-1, 13 KOs) on Saturday night at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales.
The Manchester fighter dominated the action from the start as Cruz was in survival mode throughout.
Flanagan, who was making the fourth defence of the title, upped the pressure as the fight progressed and dropped his overmatched opponent twice in the eighth before referee Steve Gray stopped the bout at 0:43 of the round.
Also on the card, Welsh light middleweight contender Liam Williams (16-0-1, 11 KOs) stopped replacement opponent Gabor Gorbics (22-5, 13 KOs) to win the vacant WBO European belt.
Williams dropped the Hungarian in the eighth with a devastating left hook to the body and despite the game Gorbics getting up off the canvas, the referee waved the fight off.
Williams' original opponent Ahmet Patterson sustained injuries in a street attack while on a training run and had to withdraw.
Tommy Langford (18-0, 6 KOs) claimed the vacant British middleweight title by a hard fought 12-round split decision over Sam Sheedy (17-2, 4 KOs).
Both fighters had their moments, but it was Langford who was awarded scores of 117-113 and 116-114, while the third had it 115-113 for Sheedy.
Welshman Craig Evans (16-1-2, 3 KOs) and Liverpool's Tom Stalker (11-2-3, 2 KOs) met for the third time, having fought twice previously to draws. On this occasion Evans got the better of Stalker and won a 10- round majority decision by scores of 95-95, 96-94 and 98-92 to win the WBO European lightweight title.
Britain's unbeaten Kid Galahad (21-0, 12 KOs) easily stopped Spain's Reynaldo Mora (7-20-1, 4 KOs) in three rounds at featherweight.