Lee McGregor produced a sensational performance as he stopped Karim Guerfi in round one to win the European bantamweight title on Friday March 19. The contest headlined the MTK Fight Night card held at the University of Bolton Stadium.
McGregor (10-0, 8 KOs) dropped Guerfi (29-5, 9 KOs) three times in round one, with the first two knockdowns coming from body shots, before a ferocious left hook ended the fight.
The first knockdown came 50 seconds into the fight, as McGregor dropped Guerfi with a brilliant body shot. The Frenchman got back to his feet, but less than a minute later, another body shot sent him back to the canvas. He got up again, but the onslaught from McGregor continued, and a fantastic left hook brought the fight to the end, with Guerfi knocked down again and McGregor crowned the new European bantamweight champion.
Lee McGregor drops Karim Guerfi in the first round to become a new European bantamweight champion ?pic.twitter.com/hMPS1sZ8fn
— FIGHTMAG (@fightmag) March 20, 2021
It means that in just his tenth professional fight, Lee McGregor has become British, Commonwealth, and now European bantamweight champion.
“I said from the start of the lead up to this fight that people will see a completely different Lee McGregor,” said newly crowned champion McGregor. “Huge credit has to go to Ben Davison, because he’s made me a complete different fighter and that showed tonight.”
“My physical strength, mental strength and lots else has been improved, and I’m a proper professional now. I sacrificed so much away from my family for this fight, but there was no denying me. I knew I wouldn’t return home without this belt.”
Elsewhere on the card, Maxi Hughes (23-5-2, 5 KOs) achieved a lifelong dream as he defeated Paul Hyland Jnr (20-3, 7 KOs) to win the vacant British lightweight title. Hughes keeps up his superb run of form during lockdown, having now beaten Jono Carroll, Viktor Kotochigov and Hyland Jnr in the space of seven months.
There were also wins for Shabaz Masoud (8-0, 2 KOs) against Louis Norman (14-9-1, 2 KOs), Sean Duffy (4-0, 2 KOs) against Paul Holt (7-10, 2 KOs), and Nathan Bendon (4-3-1, 1 KO) against Eryk Apresyan (7-1, 5 KOs). In addition, Jamie Robinson (10-4-2, 3 KOs) and Billy Allington (8-1-3) were held to a draw.
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