Tony Jeffries delighted a packed Sunderland crowd by stopping Roy Meissner in two for his second pro win.
Sunderland's new hero makes it two from two
Tony Jeffries delighted a packed Sunderland crowd with his second professional win.
The Olympic bronze medalist obliterated German Roy Meissner, knocking him down three times in the first round before eventually stopping him midway through the next.
It was hard to gauge how good Jeffries was given his opponent's limited ability and ambition but a full house at the Crowtree Leisure Centre, including Sunderland AFC chairman Niall Quinn, didn't care a jot.
They almost took the roof off when he entered the ring and were given plenty to cheer about as their homecoming hero set about his man with purpose, if not complete poise.
The first exchange saw Jeffries hammer home a left to the ribs and not one, nor two, but three more gave Meissner an indication of what was going to come his way.
Knockdown
There was little, save the odd wild overhead right, coming the other way which meant Jeffries second paid fight was the perfect stage to do as he pleased.
That meant more lefts to the body, but as soon as he added the right, there was only going to be one outcome.
With 70 seconds of the opening round remaining, one of those big lefts took the breath out of Meissner's body and the balance away from his legs. Although he tumbled to the canvas, referee Gary Williams bizarrely failed to register the knockdown.
It mattered little to the left-hand happy Mackem and within another 15 seconds he was down again, the left round the guard good enough to earn a count this time.
But no sooner had Meissner got back up and he was floored for a third time, the right round the side the telling blow.
Barrage
To give Meissner credit, he withstood an furious barrage at the start of the second, but as blows rained in upstairs and downstairs, he could barely catch his breath, never mind consider countering.
So it came as no real surprise, but sparked a huge celebration nonetheless when Sunderland's newest sporting hero made it two wins from two with 1min 34secs of round two remaining.
A left-right-left combination had Meissner backing off as Jeffries harassed and harried him around the ring.
He eventually caught up and cracked a left into his ribs, repeated the trick on the other side before one more big, booming left led to the referee jumping in for the inevitable stoppage.
