By John Dower: World Boxing Union welterweight champion Michael Jennings (32-1, 15 KOs) stopped challenger Ross Minter (17-3-1, 8 KOs) in the 9th round tonight at the Excel Arena, in London. Jennings, rated #3 in the WBO, made a mess up Minter’s face early on, cutting him above the left eye and ear with excellent shots. Minter, like his famous father former champion Alan Minter, Ross seemed to inherit the same tendency to cut up under punishment. However, it hardly mattered, though, for Minter wasn’t in the same class as Jennings, which was made clear round after round as Jennings pounded away unmercifully at Minter.

The end came at the closing of the ninth round, when Minter’s corner tossed in the white towel, signaling that they wanted the fight to be stopped for their fighter. The referee Mickey Vann then obliged, stopping the fight at 2:59 of the 9th round. Minter was hurt in the first round, when he ran into a right hand from Jennings. However, Minter recovered quickly, and continued on not much worse for wear.

In the 4th round, unfortunately, Minter was dropped after getting nailed by two successive right hand bombs from Jennings. Minter, to his credit, fought well in the 5th round, as he continued to come at Jennings the best he could given his circumstances. In the next two rounds, Jennings landed well with jabs and right hands. In the eighth round, Jennings began to really punish Minter, who by this time was bleeding and looking rather fatigued.

Perhaps seeing this, Jennings went for the kill in the 9th round, as he beat Minter badly in the round, hitting him with beautiful head shots, shooting both blood and sweat into the audience. At the end of the round, Minter’s corner had seen enough, and threw the towel to protect Minter from anymore needless punishment.