Martin Crossan claimed the first knockout of his career as he stopped Andrew Smart in the first round to retain his Scottish super-lightweight title.
Fighting on the undercard of his trainer Willie Limond’s bout with Ricky Burns at the Braehead Arena, the man known as the Bulldog showed he can bite as he extended his unbeaten record to 8-0.
Smart had lost just once in his own fledgling career – a tilt at the Scottish welterweight title earlier in this year – but had no answer to Crossan’s power.
The champion unleashed a massive right hand midway through the first round that sent his Elgin opponent to the canvas.
Smart did well to get up to beat the count but Crossan didn’t relent and another devastating sequence of shots prompted referee Kenny Pringle to step in before the end of the round.
“I’m over the moon with that,” said Crossan. “I was coming out ready to get punched about for 10 rounds so it’s just a bonus to get it finished that quickly.
“After the first knockdown I knew he was away when I jabbed him again. I knew he wasn’t going to recover so I just kept the jab in his face so we could get out of here, go home and get a Big Mac.”
Charlie Doig had been another expected to fight for a Scottish title only for his opponent, George Stewart, to pull out late on with the flu. That contest has been postponed until November 3 in Alloa but the Dundonian – trained by Burns – kept himself busy with a hastily scheduled fight against Clayton Bricknell.
The Englishman proved a game opponent and somehow lasted the eight rounds despite Doig piling on the pressure looking for the stoppage. It didn’t matter in the end, the Scot getting the nod 78-74 to move to 4-0.
In the first contest of the night, Josh Campbell extended his record to 7-0 with a second-round stoppage of Jakub Laskowski before Reece Porter got the job done in a round fewer against Egidijus Zukas.
Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Tyler Jolly burnished his growing reputation by knocking down Frank Madsen in the opening round in his first home fight before claiming a stoppage in the fourth to move to 2-0.
There was a win too for Jake Limond, Willie’s son, who was given the nod on points after knocking down Stefan Vincent in the second round.
