European super-bantamweight champion Liam Davies says his fifth-round stoppage of Italy’s Vincenzo La Femina shows he is closing in on a shot at the world title.
The Telford boxer’s flurry of punches forced the referee to step in 10 seconds before the end of round five in Manchester on Saturday.
It extended Davies’ unbeaten record to 15 professional fights.
“I wanted to do a job on him,” Davies, 27, told BBC Radio Shropshire.
In an entertaining contest, both fighters were knocked down in the third round before Davies recovered to send La Femina to the canvas again in the fourth.
He closed out his second successful defence of his European belt in the next round, which marked a year since winning the title against Romania’s Ionut Baluta in Telford in style.
Davies said he will take the lessons from his latest outing against La Femina and move on.
“He caught me with some good shots and I could feel the blood dripping.
“I got clipped. It boiled my blood. I wanted to make sure I got back and got the job done – he was a very tough competitor,” he said.
“It’s all part of the game, and I love it. It was one of those things you learn from.”
Davies said the day before the La Femina fight, that a win would continue to pave the way for a potential shot at Japan’s world champion Naoya Inoue, who takes on the Philippines’ Marlon Tapales in a bout on Boxing Day.
And he said his latest win, under promoter Frank Warren, strengthens his case.
“That’s that I came here to do. I wanted to show I’m ready for these world title fights and hopefully I’ve done that,” Davies said.
“Frank promised he’s going to keep getting me these shots, and he told me I was one of his son [and fellow promoter] George’s favourites – so that should keep me in good stead.”
