It takes a good fighter to adjust and the British junior lightweight champion did just that.

In his first defense of the Lonsdale belt, Sam Bowen overcame a spirited effort from Scotsman Jordan McCorry to score a convincing ninth-round stoppage at the Leicester Arena in Leicester, England, on Saturday. The official time was 0:33.

Bowen, who won the vacant British championship with an eighth-round stoppage of Maxi Hughes last April, was tagged hard and often in the early going and struggled to find his timing.

McCorry was full of fire, but his success was suddenly replaced with low blow infringements during the middle rounds. The challenger was deducted two points for fouls and became more and more desperate to close the gap as the bout progressed.

The champion duly capitalized, upping the pace and landing solidly with power shots to head and body. McCorry, bleeding from the nose, began to wilt under the heat and a heavy barrage forced him to dip at the knees in the ninth. Hurt to the body, the challenger was ducking below the waist and referee Marcus McDonnell halted the action with Bowen landing at will with clean head shots.

“(McCorry) was a little bit awkward, but I stuck to the boxing,” said Bowen in an interview with BT Sport in the U.K. “I was winning the rounds, I wasn’t blowing, I wasn’t tired. I can do that for 12 rounds, that’s what we train for.”

Bowen (15-0, 11 knockouts) is being linked to a domestic showdown against Leon Woodstock who won a routine eight-round decision earlier in the night.

Undercard

Liverpool-based Londoner Sam Maxwell produced a dramatic come-from-behind stoppage over Sabri Sediri in a junior welterweight shocker. The official time was 2:46 of the 10th and final round. Maxwell had been floored in the opening two sessions and his opponent was literally dancing his way to victory as the seconds ticked away. Suddenly a thunderbolt one-two combination knocked Sediri flat on his back and the Frenchman was never making the count. Comeback of the year? Knockout of the year? Take your pick, this was absolutely sensational.

Unbeaten heavyweight Nathan Gorman scored a dominant 10-round decision over former world title challenger Kevin Johnson. The official score from the referee was 100-90. As reflected by the numbers, Johnson offered little in the way of resistance and the bout was relatively one-paced. Gorman, who is highly-touted, improves to 16-0 (11 KOs).

Tom Gray is Associate Editor for The Ring and a member of the ratings panel. Follow him on Twitter: @Tom_Gray_Boxing

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