Lee McGregor makes it nine wins with fifth-round stoppage of Walker

Unbeaten Edinburgh fighter eyes defence of his titles this year

Lee McGregor made it nine wins in a row. Picture: Gary Hutchison/SNS

Edinburgh’s British and Commonwealth bantamweight champion Lee McGregor enjoyed an easy night’s work as he chalked up his ninth consecutive victory.

The undefeated orthodox fighter produced a strong performance in the ring to stop opponent Ryan Walker in the fifth round – the seventh of his professional career – at the Production Park Studios in Wakefield.

It was the first time McGregor had boxed since his British title success over Glasgow’s Kash Farooq in November but there was certainly no evidence of any ring rust from the Scot.

Fighting at super-bantamweight, McGregor’s significant height and reach advantage was telling from the first bell in West Yorkshire.

The 23-year-old got to work straight away and set about the Londoner, whose own record had been 11 wins and just one defeat, finding success with some huge shots to the body.

To Walker’s credit, the Englishman showed tremendous resistance while trying to assert some pressure of his own. But McGregor’s sheer punching power was catching a tiring Walker out time and again as his defence mechanisms began to unravel.

McGregor’s class shone through in the end and a huge right hand 16 seconds into the fifth round signalled the end for Walker, who dropped to the canvas before the referee stepped in to bring the contest to a halt. Walker looked unhappy at the decision and refused to shake McGregor’s hand afterwards.

“I was fully confident that I was going to put on a good performance,” said McGregor.

“I’d put a lot of pressure on myself because I’d built myself up before the fight in the media so I knew I couldn’t afford any slip ups. It was definitely the right call to stop the fight, he was taking some big shots and I think it would have got worse for him the longer it went on, although credit to him as he wanted to carry on.”

As far as his next fight goes, McGregor added: “I’ll speak to my team and see what’s next but I’d like to defend my titles before the end of the year.”

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