By Elliot Foster
Kash Farooq made history by becoming only the third Scotsman to win the British title outright.
The bantamweight made the third defence of the crown he won just 11 months ago –– and it ended inside a round.
Farooq, the Pakistani-born Glasgow man, took on Bristol’s Duane Winters at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Glasgow, Scotland.
And he booked his place in Scottish boxing folklore –– and setup a mouthwatering showdown with Commonwealth champion Lee McGregor –– with a scintillating display which was halted by the referee, Liverpool’s Mark Lyson, with just a second remaining in the opener on Saturday night.
‘The Untouchable’ joins Alex Arthur and John Simpson as the only fighters to have achieved the feat since 1994 and it all ended courtesy of a crushing left hook to the body.
The fight started at a frantic pace with the champion failing to give the challenger a moment to settle into proceedings. He quickly began to rip in big shots to head and body before throwing a lazy right hand to bring up ‘The Gasman’s’ hands and then throwing the finishing punch.
Talk after the final bell quickly turned to the potential showdown with Edinburgh’s McGregor, with the aforementioned Alex Arthur stating that it would be a “travesty” were the pair not to meet in an all-Scottish dust-up and Farooq’s manager, Iain Wilson, saying the fight can definitely be made if talks can take place.
Meanwhile, Boris Crighton was forced to go the distance for the first time in his burgeoning professional career.
The 26-year-old was extended six rounds by Darryl Sharp of Lancashire, who got a share of a round on referee John McGuire’s scorecard which read 60 points to 55.
Kelty’s Craig Morgan built on his impressive showing back in June with a points win (40-36) over Nicaragua’s Spanish-based Rafael Castillo, who was dropped in the penultimate stanza, on McGuire’s tally.
And Dublin super-featherweight Declan Geraghty kicked off the show by getting back to winning ways against Blackburn’s Naheem Chaudhry by a margin of 40 points to 36 on McGuire’s scorecard.