By Elliot Foster
Lee Selby cracked an 11-month hiatus with a stoppage victory.
The Barry stylist, who is the IBF champion at featherweight and now 24-1 (9 KOs), was due to make the third defence of his crown against Jonathan Victor Barros, his mandatory, on January 28 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
But the clash, which was set to be aired on Showtime in the States as part of the supporting cast to Carl Frampton’s defeat at the hands of Leo Santa Cruz for the WBA ‘Super’ featherweight world title, had to be scrapped after Barros (41-4-1, 22 KOs) failed the medical tests to be granted a license by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
As a result, the IBF allowed the Welshman, 30, to have a non-title fight.
And it came against Andoni Gago, the former Spanish featherweight champion and current IBF International king, as part of the undercard to David Haye’s heavyweight grudge match against Tony Bellew.
It was somewhat one-sided throughout, with Selby knocking Gago down in the opener with a class left hook to the head.
However, the Spaniard, to his credit, bit down on his gumshield and continued before the referee had seen enough after less than a minute of the ninth round.
In defeat, Gago slips to 16-3-2 with five early.
Carl Frampton is the man that Selby wants next and his manager Chris Sanigar told Sky Sports that although Barros is in the frame for his man’s next fight that the Ulsterman is the preferred option.
Earlier in the card, Ted Cheeseman scored his eighth successive pro victory and remains undefeated.
The Bermondsey man dropped his foe Jack Sellars in the second round with a peach of a right hand, but the 22-year-old, whose clash was set for 10 rounds but ended up being cut to eight, managed to get up and gritted his teeth to last the distance.
Cheeseman took the fight on the referee’s scorecard by a margin of 78 points to 74, forcing the first defeat of Sellars’ ledger as he slips to 5-1-1 with one early.
But there was disappointment for Craig Glover. The previously undefeated Scouse cruiserweight lost out to debutant Jake Bonnalie, from Sunderland, who was making his professional debut.
Afterwards, the 28-year-old was elated, telling Sky Sports he’d love to win a European title and get a big promotional contract.
Glover was set to return to the ring, after tonight, on April 22 at Liverpool’s ECHO Arena, exclusively live on Sky Sports, as part of the undercard to gym-mate Martin Murray’s middleweight showdown against Gabriel Rosado, but it is unclear at this stage whether that will still be the case following his first defeat in the paid code.
