By Terence Dooley

Liverpool, Olympia—Former star amateur Bradley Saunders (10st 2½lbs) returned from his hand injury induced layoff with a scheduled eight-threes encounter against France’s Renald Garrido (10st 3lbs), who came to the ring dressed as a lion and clearly fancied his chances going into the bout.

The County Durham-based boxer asked for rounds going into the fight; Garrido had lost eleven times, but has never been stopped, so it looked liked a long night in prospect for the 29-year-old contender.

Conversely, Garrido, 32, only had two stoppages from his 14 wins going into the contest; it was going to take something special if either man was to end this one early.

Garrido, though, put in a performance that belied his modest record, harrying Saunders throughout the early going before flooring him in the sixth round.

Upon rising, an exhausted Saunders stumbled into referee Steve Gray while under further pressure then landed his most effective blow of the night, a blatant headbutt that left the third man with no choice.  He disqualified Saunders at 2:53 of the round.

Saunders (12-0, 9 early) got some rounds under his belt, but he is no longer undefeated and looked ragged after six-months out of the ring.

Garrido (15-11-1, 2 early) went over to speak to Scotty Cardle at the end of the fight; he ended a two-fight losing streak with this upset win.

Saunders told Sky’s Ed Robison that he hurt both his hands early in the contest, he called for a rematch and said he “Doesn’t want to go out on getting beat—I’ll learn from it.”