Darren Barker cruised to a comfortable defence of his Commonwealth middleweight title with a comprehensive victory over Steve Bendall.
Comfortable defence for Commonwealth champion
Darren Barker cruised to a comfortable defence of his Commonwealth middleweight title with a comprehensive victory over Steve Bendall.
Barker had the Coventry southpaw down after just 20 seconds before a nasty cut above the right eye ended the fight in the seventh.
Bendall will feel hard done by as the cut came from a clash of heads - however the decision by referee Richie Barker to step in to stop the fight only sped up the inevitable.
Barker, a Commonwealth Games gold medallist, controlled the fight from the off - with Bendall never recovering from the double-quick knock down.
And Barker was happy with his workout. He told
Sky Sports: "I never overlooked Steve Bendall. He is a quality opponent and he has proved that with the opposition he has faced. He was a stiff test.
"It was a matter of boxing smartly. I am learning all the time so this was a good performance at this stage of my career."
Barker, who moves to 17-0, worked well behind his jab, catching Bendall at will - and setting up the opportunities to land some heavy bombs.
It was a short right to Bendall's chin, followed by an overhand left, that put the 34-year-old down in the first round.
Survive
Bendall gamely got up as he desperately attempted to find a way back into what is surely his last shot at the big time.
However, he just could not find any answer to the silky skills of Barker and was lucky to survive the fifth round when he was rocked on the ropes.
The stoppage, though, came two rounds later. Davies initially allowed the fight to continue after a long look at the cut caused by a clash of heads.
However the referee was left with no choice but to step in as Barker landed three punches to the area.
