Udofia retains title by stopping Harding Jr in the ninth round

Luton boxer Linus Udofia retained his English middleweight title with a ninth round stoppage of John Harding Jr in their fight at the Matchroom Boxing event in Milton Keynes on Sunday night.

In an opening round fought almost exclusively with jabs, the best shot was landed just as the bell sounded, Udofia catching Harding.

The former Hockwell Ring fighter had the upper hand in the second round, but Harding showed resistance, with some good blows in round three.

Harding, who went into the fight with a eight wins from his 10 previous bouts, had his moments, but Udofia was busier, showing the better fitness.

That proved in the sixth round, Udofia switching his attack to head and body and by the eighth, he unloaded a series of right hand blows.

Harding tried to match Udofia in the ninth round, but the Lutonian connected with a hard right, with his opponent deemed unable to continue by referee Michael Alexander.

When speaking to Sky Sports Boxing, Udofia, who extended his unbeaten record to 16 fights, said: “That’s not what we expected, he was really good, did a lot of things different. He had a really good jab and he did bring the best out of me.

“He was talking to me from the first few rounds and I just got past that and stuck to my gameplan, listened to my coach and got the job done later on.

“We saw him tiring after six. We saw every time he got up, he wasn’t getting up on 10 seconds left (at the end of the interval), so we knew it was coming, we just didn’t think it would come like that, we thought it would come from the body.

“This stage is massive and it brought out the best in me.”