Badou Jack caused a mini-upset by stopping Junior Makabu in the final round of a brilliant fight to become the new WBC cruiserweight champion.
Jack was looking to become a three-weight world champion following successes at super-middleweight and light-heavyweight, but it was expected that his lengthy career would catch up with him against the fresher Makabu.
Both fighters started the contest well and enjoyed early successes, but the fight started to go the way of the challenger when he dropped his opponent in the fourth session.
Makabu did have some decent moments in the fight’s second half but his chances of retaining his strap disappeared when he hit the floor again in the bout’s penultimate round.
Brimming with confidence, Jack went all out to secure an early night as he continued to attack Makabu in the fight’s last stanza.
With Makabu defenceless on the ropes under pressure from another onslaught, it was left to Mark Lyson to intervene as he rescued the Congolese man from further punishment allowing Jack to celebrate his latest achievement.