Galal Yafai inflicted a one-sided stoppage loss on Sunny Edwards who introduced his retirement after the flyweight combat in Birmingham.
Yafai moved inside touching distance of a world title shot after the referee stepped in to stop any extra punishment for Edwards, who had earlier advised his nook, ‘I do not need to be right here,’ amid a vicious onslaught.
Yafai went on the offensive from the off, pinning Edwards to the ropes within the first minute of the combat and unleashed each arms, catching his opponent with a left cross, proper hook mixture.
Edwards took a collection of second-round physique photographs, with Yafai shrugging off counter punches from the Londoner, who advised his nook his legs had gone in the course of the interval, and located himself below intense strain within the third.
Yafai maintained his dominance over the fourth and fifth rounds as Edwards visibly wilted and he landed a collection of proper hooks within the sixth earlier than the referee referred to as a halt after a minute and 10 seconds.
Edwards, who tasted defeat for the second time in his 23-fight profession, swiftly introduced his resolution to retire, saying: “I’ll be real, if I won the fight, I was going into the sunset. This is the last thing that I wanted to do, get that scalp of the Olympic [champion].”
He added: “If I’m being perfectly honest, my body’s falling apart, man. I’ve got bad ankles, I’ve got bad wrists, I’ve got bad shoulders, I’ve got a bad back – everything about me is bad at this moment.”
Yafai, who misplaced to Edwards on a cut up resolution when the pair fought as amateurs in 2015, advised BBC Radio 5 Dwell: “I was scared going into camp, worried what Sunny could do to me.
“I sparred him, he was exhausting to spar, he is overwhelmed me earlier than, he is been the person within the division, so I needed to prepare as exhausting as I might to compete with him.”
