Shamrock’s Stephenson shines as he scores first round victory

The light heavyweight bout was a real clash of styles as the Luton Shamrock fighter evened up his career stats at two wins and two defeats.

Stephenson, 28, looked far trimmer than his opponent Stuart Maddox from Preston, despite weighing in at 2lb heavier at 12st 10lb 8oz.

Maddox, 32, with a record of three defeats and one draw, looked to wrap Stephenson up from the start and hit him on the counter, while the home boxer looked to use his reach advantage and work the jab whenever possible.

A largely tame first round suddenly came to life when Stephenson took the wind out of his opponent with a fine left to the body and executed the coup de grace when his right to the head sent the Preston fighter to the canvass.

The referee began his count before ending the contest after just 2.55mins as the second straight fight of the evening ended in the first round.