English middleweight champion Linus Udofia retained his crown tonight after knocking out challenger John Harding Jnr in the ninth round.
The victory was the undefeated Lutonian’s 16th in a row – with a 50 per cent knockout rate – and the first defence of the title he won in November against Tyler Denny at York Hall.
Harding had promised before the fight: “I am going to stop him, maximum violence! Linus Udofia is tailor-made for me.”
After silencing his London opponent, Udofia, 27, spoke to Sky Sports, saying of the pre-fight needle with Harding that it helped him “100 per cent,” adding: “He did bring the best out of me. He was talking to me from the first few rounds and I got round that and just stuck to my game plan, listened to my coach and got the job done later on.
“We saw him tiring after five or six. We saw that every time he got up he wasn’t getting up on ten seconds left, so we knew it was coming, we just didn’t think it would come like that.
“I thought it was going to come to the body, to be fair, but the stage is massive and the stage brought the best out of me, I feel.”
He finished off his interview by saying: “Big up Luton!”
