Tete blasts out Butler in eight
IBF super flyweight champion Zolani Tete (20-3, 17 KOs) scored a spectacular eighth-round knockout over Britain's Paul Butler (17-1, 8 KOs) on Friday night at the Echo Arena in Liverpool.
South African Tete dominated the action before finishing Butler with a crushing left uppercut midway through the eighth round.
From the start, southpaw Tete kept Butler on the end of his jab while landing left hands to head and body.
On the occasion Butler did close the gap, he was tied up, spun around, and pushed away.
Butler did land a couple of decent left hooks in the fifth but he continued to take straight shots from Tete which left him with a bloody nose.
The challenger landed more decent shots in the sixth but again was unable to follow up and continued to take jabs from the champion.
By the eighth, Butler was demoralised at not being able to land his shots and the fight was soon over when Tete landed a crushing left uppercut.
Butler staggered to his feet but referee Phil Edwards had already reached the count of 10 and waved it off at 1:34 of the round.
Tete, 26, won the vacant IBF title by outpointing Teiru Kinoshita in Japan in July and was making his first defence against former IBF bantamweight champion Butler.
The 26-year-old Butler, who won a split decision against countryman Stuart Hall to capture the IBF 118 pound title in June, moved down in weight to challenge for the 115 pound title and was attempting to become the first Briton to win a second world title at a lower weight since Bob Fitzsimmons went from winning world honours at heavyweight to light-heavyweight in 1903.
Also on the card, Derry Mathews (37-9-2, 20 KOs) halted Hungarian Gyorgy Mizsei Jr (21-14, 12 KOs) in the fifth round.
Mathews landed a powerful right that his opponent failed to get up from. The Liverpool lightweight will be challenging WBA champion Richar Abril in the same venue on April 18.