Chris Billam-Smith settled any arguments from his first meeting with Tommy McCarthy last year as he knocked out the Irishman in the eighth round of their Commonwealth and European cruiserweight title fight in Manchester. 

It was the best performance of Billam-Smith’s career. He outworked, then outpunched McCarthy and when he had him hurt, he did not let him off the hook. 

Billiam-Smith had unified the British, Commonwealth and European titles by claiming a split decision over McCarthy last summer in a humdinger at Fight Camp. 

And after a good opening round by the Englishman, McCarthy got through with two huge overhand rights in the second and followed it up with a left hook in the third, which Billam-Smith took well in a round he had started well. 

But Billam-Smith came back well again in the fourth, landing two big right hooks that rocked McCarthy and Billam-Smith’s dominance continued in the fifth round as he outworked McCarthy and landed well up close. 

By the sixth round, both boxers looked very tired, as McCarthy looked to find the punches to turn things around.  

Billam-Smith got through with two more big rights in the seventh while McCarthy was tied up as he tried to respond. 

There would be no let up from Billam-Smith, though, as he closed the fight out in the eighth. He trapped McCarthy on the ropes and landed hard hooks up close that rocked McCarthy. And as the Irishman fell back into the ropes, it gave Billam-Smith the room to land a hard right that dropped  McCarthy face first. 

He never looked likely to get up in time. Referee Fernandez completed the count at 1:28 of the eighth round. 

Campbell Hatton extended his unbeaten record to 7-0 as he beat Ezequiel Gregores on points over six rounds. 

Hatton, 21, set a fast pace and put the pressure on Gregores from the start, although at times he showed almost no defence as Gregores caught him repeatedly as Hatton pulled out with his hands down. 

On the plus side, though, Hatton did show some nice punch variety, though, as he switched from head to body and looks like he has a great engine. Referee Steve Gray gave Hatton every round, scoring it 60-54. 

Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.