Smith flattens Fielding in one
.jpg)
British super middleweight contender Callum Smith (18-0, 13 KOs) stopped countryman Rocky Fielding (21-1, 12 KOs) in the first round on Saturday night at the Echo Arena in Liverpool.
In a clash of unbeaten local rivals, Smith floored Fielding three times in a 165-second demolition before the referee stopped the fight.
Smith connected with a big right hand followed by a left uppercut which dropped Fielding inside 30 seconds and, although Fielding got up and fought back, as he charged forward, he was nailed with a left hook to the head that sent him down to the canvas for the second time.
As brave as Fielding was to get up again, he was soon put down for a third time from more hard shots and referee Phil Edwards waved it off.
With the win, Smith retained the WBC Silver super middleweight belt and won the British title.
The 25-year-old is the fourth brother from his family to become a British titleholder.
Smith, and his brothers Liam, Stephen and Paul are the first four siblings to win British boxing titles.
In addition, Smith now moves into the mandatory challenger position for the WBC super middleweight title held by Sweden's Badou Jack, and he will be aiming to join his brother Liam as a world champion.
Also on the card, former two-division world champion Ricky Burns (39-5-1, 13 KOs) stopped Australian Josh King (20-4, 9 KOs) in the 11th round of a lightweight contest.
Burns was far from his best but still had too much experience for King and he took charge as the scrappy contest wore on.
The Scotsman finished it with a body shot in the 11th.
Burns captured the vacant WBO inter-continental lightweight title
British lightweight champion Scott Cardle (19-0, 6 KOs) stopped local challenger Sean Dodd (10-2, 2 KOs) in the 12th round.
Both fighters were cut having brawled from start to finish in a gruelling bout.
Cardle was behind on the scorecards but came on strong in the last round and sent his opponent to the floor with a barrage of punches a minute from the end of his first defence.
Although Dodd got back up immediately, referee Terry O'Connor stepped in and stopped the fight and had sections of the partisan crowd booing.