By Elliot Foster

Goodison Park Stadium, Liverpool, Merseyside - Tony Bellew (27-2-1, 17KOs) got off the deck to blast away Ilunga Makabu (19-2, 18KOs) in three rounds to capture the vacant WBC cruiserweight world title

The belt became vacant after world champion Grigory Drozd was unable to meet several mandatory deadlines. Drozd needed additional time to recover from injuries and was named 'champion in recess.'

Bellew started well in the first round, but near the end of the same round Makabu dropped him hard with a big counter. Bellew came back in the third with hard punches with both hands. They were trading and Makabu was blasted out cold and the referee jumped in there to wave off the fight.

ON THE UNDERCARD

Stephen Smith got back on the winning trail with a stoppage.

The former IBF super-featherweight world title challenger is now back in the rankings with the WBC after dazzling, exclusively live on Sky Sports.

‘Swifty’, who is now 24-2 (14 KOs), took just six rounds to get rid of Daniel Brizuela, the well-travelled Argentine, at Goodison Park, as part of the undercard to Tony Bellew’s clash with Ilunga Makabu for the vacant WBC cruiserweight title

With the win, Smith picks up his old belt, the WBC Silver crown.

And now his promoter, Eddie Hearn, hopes that the organisation will reinstate Smith in the number one position and says that the winner of the clash between Francisco Vargas and Orlando Salido, which is happening on June 4 in the States, is definitely a target of theirs.

Elsewhere, Sean Dodd will wake up in the morning with a new ornament on the mantlepiece –– at the second time of asking.

The Birkenhead lightweight should have walked away with the British title against Scotty Cardle last month but their rematch at the ECHO Arena on April 2 was marred with controversy after the fight was called a draw.

Dodd, however, dusted himself down and was handed an opportunity to fight for the vacant WBC International crown –– and boy did he take his chance.

Over a tough 10 rounds against a game Pasquale Di Silvio of Italy, ‘Masher’ –– who donned Superman attire at yesterday’s weigh-in –– had to take a few shots but landed plenty of his own en-route to taking a points decision on all three judges’ scorecards by margins of 97-93, and 98-92 twice.

And Scott Fitzgerald moved to 3-0 (3 KOs) with an early victory over Gabor Balogh, who slips to 0-3 in defeat.

Callum Smith didn’t have it all his own way as he remained on course for a world title shot.

The WBC super-middleweight title mandatory challenger was handed a spot on the undercard to Tony Bellew’s clash with Ilunga Makabu for the vacant WBC cruiserweight title as a tick-over before fighting for global honours.

And Smith, who improved to 20-0 (15 KOs) as he stopped the game but limited Argentine Cesar Hernan Reynoso, was forced to work, exclusively live on Sky Sports.

The visitor slipped to 14-8-3 (7 KOs) in defeat but provided Smith with some good rounds.

However, ‘Mundo’ showed his class throughout, dropping his man in rounds one, four and five before the end came after two minutes and two seconds of round six in the scheduled eight-round contest.

Meanwhile, in a cracking super-lightweight dust-up, Tom Farrell got the better of geographical rival Kofi Yates over 10 rounds.

Both men, who are friends outside the ring, gave it their all over the distance, but it was Farrell –– who remains undefeated and is now 9-0 with two early –– who came out on top on referee Ian John-Lewis’ scorecard, getting it by 98 points to 93.

In defeat, Wythenshawe’s Yates slips to 13-2 (1 KO).

David Price made a successful return to his home city.

The Liverpool heavyweight hadn’t fought there in almost three years but took less than two completed rounds to end the challenge of his opponent, exclusively live on Sky Sports.

Price, who is now 20-3 with 17 early finishes, looked sharp in his first fight since teaming up with new coach Dave Caldwell.

And after downing his Czech counterpart, Vaclav Pejsar, in the opener, Price stepped on the gas and attempted to get his man out of there.

But Pejsar, who slips to 9-3 (8 KOs) in defeat, hung on until the end of the session.

It was the second, though, which ultimately proved to be final round as Price, boxing behind the jab and with sound fundamentals, uncorked two cracking right uppercuts to send his man to the canvas twice before the referee called a halt to proceedings.

Hosea Burton continued his unbeaten run with a routine stoppage victory.

The British light-heavyweight champion, who was supposed to defend his crown against Tony Dodson before the proposed challenger snapped his achilles, took less than two full rounds to move to 17-0 (8 KOs).

Burton, 27, dominated Hungary’s Jozsef Kormany in their scheduled six-round outing on at Everton Football Club’s Goodison Park, as part of the undercard to Tony Bellew’s vacant WBC cruiserweight world title clash against Ilunga Makabu.

Manchester-trained Burton was last in action only 22 days ago on the undercard of Anthony Crolla’s world title defence against Ismael Barroso and his sharpness showed as he was on top from start to finish.

In defeat, Kormany drops to 17-24.

Elsewhere, Craig Glover shone on his debut as he stopped vastly overmatched Yorkshireman Darren Snow after 54 seconds of third round, while there were victories for Steve Brogan and Ged Carroll, who moved to 2-0 after his second fight in six weeks.

And Paul Smith won the second fight of his comeback since an 11-month hiatus, outpointing the game Pole Bartlomiej by 59 points to 55 over six rounds.

‘Real Gone Kid’ stopped Bronislav Kubin inside three rounds in Manchester 22 days ago and was handed a spot on this bill following that victory.