By Elliot Foster
Zolani Tete maintained his stoppage run with another early finish.
The South African, 27, dominated Mexico’s Victor Ruiz (now 21-6, 15 KOs) over seven of 12 scheduled rounds, exclusively live on BoxNation.
Tete, who is now 24-3 (20 KOs), retained his IBF International bantamweight crown at the ECHO Arena in Liverpool, as part of the undercard to Liam Smith’s WBO super-welterweight title defence against Predrag Radosevic.
He was in total control, the man who has been dubbed the ‘Scouse African’ after being adopted by the Merseyside fight public, and he was comfortable throughout.
Next for Tete is to try and get a shot at Lee Haskins, the world champion with the governing body, but it remains to be seen whether that fight can be made.
After the fight, his promoter Frank Warren revealed that discussions have taken place between his son, George, and Haskins’ manager Chris Sanigar with regards to the fight taking place.
ON THE UNDERCARD
Liam Williams set up a Cardiff showdown in a defence of his British super-welterweight title.
The Clydach Vale man, 24, is also the Commonwealth king but he made easy work of his latest outing, exclusively live on BoxNation.
Williams, who is now 14-0-1 (9 KOs), stopped Gustavo Sanchez –– who slips to 12-13-1 (4 KOs) –– inside three rounds at the ECHO Arena in Liverpool, as part of the undercard to Liam Smith’s WBO super-welterweight title defence against Predrag Radosevic.
He will come up against Gary Corcoran, the WBO Inter-Continental champion at the weight, in the first defence of the Lonsdale belt he won against Kris Carslaw back in December in Manchester, on July 16 in Cardiff.
The venue for the showdown has yet to be confirmed, but promoter Frank Warren’s office are expected to make a formal announcement about the card next week.
Meanwhile, Steven Lewis and Josh Leather each secured stoppage victories against respective opposition in the super-lightweight division.
Lewis moved to 11-0, with six early endings, with a final-round finish against Marek Laskowski, the Aberdeen-based Pole who slips to 7-6-1 (1 KO), while Leather, who knocked down his opponent in the first and third rounds, ended the challenge of Henry Janes in that third stanza.
And there were wins for Kevin Satchell and Declan Geraghty.