by Chris Williamson
Copper Box, London - lford’s Anthony Yarde (now 12-0) won the lightly regarded WBO European title at light-heavyweight with a brutal first round knockout of Hungarian Richard Baranyi.
It was Baranyi's first venture away from his homeland and a spiteful right hand floored the visitor in the first round. Bravely rising to fight on, sickening follow up punches from Yarde saw the referee stop the fight.
Southampton's Ryan 'The Piranha' Garner beat Hungarian Tamas Laka in a first round wipeout. Laska lost in three to Archie Sharp in May.
Manchester cruiserweight Jordan Thompson (now 7-0) beat Czech Jan Hrazdira in a four round mismatch which went the distance.
Archie "Sharpshooter" Sharp chalked up his eighth straight win as a vicious body assault floored Mexico's Juan Ocura (now 13-12-1) in the first. A follow up attack to body and head saw the referee call it off before the end of the round.
As a hardcore West Ham fan Sam “the hammer” McNess (now 7-1) knows this area well and harboured dreams of fighting at the home of his team at the neighbouring London Stadium.
Reading’s Asinia Byfield (now 13-1) shattered that dream for the time being as he successfully defended his southern area 11-stone title here at the copper box arena.
Byfield’s unorthodox switch-hitting style frustrated mcNess in the early stages. McNess soon settled and began to land on Byfield whose footwork often left him vulnerably square on. In a ferocious third the fight really erupted as McNess was hurt on several occasions before fighting back as the crowd erupted.
The fourth round almost saw the challenger halted as he was trapped on the ropes and withstood a brutal barrage of hooks from Byfield. Inevitably, it was all over in the fifth with McNess taking several unanswered punches the corner threw the towel in.