Burns too hot for Gomez

Ricky Burns retained his Commonwealth super-featherweight title with a seventh round stoppage victory over Michael Gomez.

Veteran Mancunian stopped in the seventh

Ricky Burns retained his Commonwealth super-featherweight title with a seventh round stoppage victory over Michael Gomez. Gomez battled bravely and attempted to come forward almost throughout, but ultimately the Scottish champion had too much accuracy in his punches. The 31-year-old Gomez has been in some real battles throughout a long career and was clearly struggling as the fight entered its second half. But before then he had been bristling with aggression and caused Burns some trouble with upper cuts and body shots. The champion's work was slicker throughout however, and he slowly wore Gomez down. The Mancunian warrior's best success came in the fourth round but when he was asked to go beyond six rounds for the first time in 17 fights his resistance finally wilted. The end came 47 seconds into the seventh round as a flurry of blows forced Gomez onto the ropes and with the challenger clearly in trouble, the referee stepped in. The win takes Burns' record to 26 wins from 28 fights, with seven of those victories coming by knockout.