Joe Laws filled and thrilled Rainton Meadows Arena when he made it two stoppage wins from two since turning professional.
‘The Bomb Squad’ were packed into the Houghton venue on Saturday night when he forced James Gorman to retire on his stool at the end of the first round.
It was the opening live fight on the Free Sports coverage of the International Boxing Federation’s European super-bantamweight title battle between Tommy Ward and Alvaro Rodriguez.
And what a noise both Laws and his army of fans made as the ‘Benwell Bomber’ (pictured above) put paid to the Belfast veteran.
Gorman might be closer to 40 than 30, but he is one of the sport’s hard men and you probably need no more than one hand to count how many times the 38-year-old Irishman has been ‘filled in’.
Joe’s second appearance was highly-anticipated, having stopped Sylwester Walczak in four rounds just one month ago at the Stadium of Light.
That was exciting, high-octane stuff from the Graeme Rutherford-trained ex-Birtley ABC star, but this was even better.
Last time, it was all-out violence, but while there was no shortage of aggression, at least the jab was in evidence, followed up by some heavy body work.
It was a left to the body which sent Gorman to the floor near his red corner.
James was up at he count of three but Laws charged back at him and Gorman was forced to hold on, this time in the blue corner.
The bell provided some respite before Gorman’s trainer told Ron Kearney that his boxer was injured and could not carry on, the Sunderland referee accepting his retirement. Laws celebrated and the Phil Jeffries-managed boxer is likely to be out early in the new season, in September.
There was one other early finish on the night as Kyle Redfearn registered his sixth straight pro victory and his fourth inside the distance.
The Ferryhill light-heavy, part of the MTK squad in Gateshead, was up against Jevgenijs Andrejevs, who carries the word “lucky” on his shorts.
While the Latvia muddled and clowned his way through the rounds at South Shields back in April against Lawrence Osueke, there was no such luck here.
Redfearn (pictured right) dominated with some telling shots and at one minute, 36 seconds of round three, Mr Kearney had seen enough and waved it off.
Words: Roy Kelly
