Craig Morris steals the show with a TKO
Shropshire's Craig Morris stole the show at Walsall Town Hall on Saturday's fight night by scoring the seven-bout bill's only stoppage.
The first professional boxer from Ludlow in over 75 years took out Viktors Drizlionoks by TKO in the third of a scheduled four rounds,
The 23-year-old light middleweight punched for pay for the first time at the same venue in April, outpointing former Midlands champion Kevin McCauley by 40-36 landslide.
This time, the former Ludlow School captain didn't need the distance to get the job done and reckons he's growing into being a pro.
He said: "I'm pleased. It's the first time I have stopped anyone in a while, I never really thought that I had the power in the amateurs.
"Now that I have got a good team behind me, I'm believing in myself. Training went great for this one, too. I went for it in there."
Drizlionoks' tactics backfired horribly early in the first round as he came forward swinging, tagging Morris but leaving his chin wide open for a right uppercut.
The Wolverhampton-based Latvian sank to his knees and was still dazed as he answered referee Kevin Parker's count, but managed to box on.
Morris powered off the jab and was clinical with his punches, bloodying his opponent's nose in the second as he dished out a beating.
Parker acted in the third after Morris trapped him in the corner and let his hands go, Drizlionoks covering up for dear life. The man in the middle stepped in with 36 seconds of the round left.
Morris said: "I got caught with a good shot, but rebounded back with a good one that put him down. It proves I can give and take one.
"The plan was to catch him early on and put him on the back-foot, so he wasn't getting any momentum as he was coming forward. It paid off.
"He was quite easy to catch with the jab, to be honest, and that set up the bigger punches. I wanted to work the body but, perhaps, I was a bit too keen.
"When the stoppage came, he didn't want it anymore. His head was down and he wasn't trying to throw too much back.
"The body shots really slowed him down, he was covering up and I was just trying to catch him with whatever I could."
