Liam Williams continued towards a world title shot and retained his British middleweight title with a first-round stoppage win over Andrew Robinson.
Williams, 28, has now won seven fights in succession and is the mandatory challenger to WBO world middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade.
A clash of heads cut both boxers early and inspired Williams to work fast.
A left hook to the body sunk Robinson, 36, to his knees and the referee deemed that he did not beat his 10 count.
Robinson seemed confused by the referees decision after he was floored by a flurry of punches on the ropes before the vicious left hand, but he was still on one knee when the referee’s count reached 10.
Welshman Williams will now be targeting bigger things as he continues to impress at middleweight after suffering back-to-back defeats to Liam Smith at super-welterweight in 2017.
“I wanted rounds but we clashed heads and I saw the blood dripping from my head. I thought it was a bad cut and thought ‘I need to end this now before it goes to a technical draw’,” Williams told BT Sport.
“I thought, let’s just get him out of there and let’s go home.”
Williams’ promoter Frank Warren confirmed after the fight that he is negotiating with Andrade’s camp to make the world title contest and says it will go to purse bids if negotiations prove unsuccessful.
“The WBO won’t let Liam fight anyone else, it will be Andrade next or he [Andrade] will have to vacate,” Warren added.
