Linus Udofia became a two-time English champion with a TKO victory over Dan Catlin at York Hall on Saturday and now has his eyes on the British crown.
Victory over Catlin came courtesy of a devastating left hook in the tenth and final round having dropped him in the third. The Fleetwood fighter managed to get to his feet, needing a big knock-out himself as he was behind on points, but Udofia continued his flurry which forced referee Darren Sarginson to step in and wave off the contest.
The victory is now sure to put the 31-year-old back in the picture for the bigger fights, particularly with his stablemate and current British champion Brad Pauls also looking to move on and potentially vacate the crown that Udofia came so controversially close to two years ago.
Then he suffered a split decision defeat to Denzel Bentley, his first career loss.
Prior to the fight, Udofia, at big Hatters fan, appeared on the Luton Town Supporters’ Trust football podcast and revealed his renewed British title aspirations.
Were he to achieve his aims that would begin to put the middleweight in the same local boxing conversations as Billy Schwer and Graham Earl, who were both two-time British lightweight champions, among a host of other honours.
But, for now, being two-time English champion is something no other Lutonian fighter has achieved.
“(It means) everything. It’s just, making history. I ain’t sunk in yet,” he told to ESBR Boxing immediately after the fight.
“It feels good. I think I’ve done the gym proud, I’ve done Terry (Steward, trainer) proud.”
His performance against Catlin showed Udofia has the punching power to trouble most fighters, though he praised his opponent, saying: “Catlin came with a lot and he came to win this fight, so it was a really good fight. It was really tough.
“He wasn’t really letting me get away with anything. He stuck it on me from the start to the finish. I managed to stick to the game plan, listened to what Terry was saying and I got the job done in the end.
“I didn’t think I would at one point, but we got it down, so I’m very happy.”
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