By Sean McDaniel: 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist James DeGale (6-0, 4 KO’s) put on an impressive punching display tonight in stopping a badly over-matched Matthew Barr (14-6, 6 KO’s) in the 2nd round of a scheduled six round bout at the Wembley Arena, Wembley, London. DeGale, 24, was putting everything he had in his shots as he bum rushed Barr in the opening round, pelting him with shots and looking for a quick knockout. Barr mostly covered up and did little.

In the second round, DeGale toyed with Barr, dropping him three times in the round. Barr was knocked down with hard right hands from DeGale, but kept getting up and trying to survive the round. Referee Grant Wallis stopped the bout at 1:38 of the 2nd.

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Light welterweight Frankie Gavin (6-0, 5 KO’s) had to settle for winning a six round decision over Peter McDonagh (14-16, 2 KO’s), thus spoiling his perfect knockout percentage. McDonagh made it clear from the opening moments that he didn’t intend on becoming one of Gavin’s knockout victims, as he fought back fiercely, throwing some nice shots and landing, albeit with little power.

McDonagh’s movement made it hard for Gavin to set up his body attack like he’s accustomed to. Gavin’s defense was missing in the fight, as he was hit a little too often by McDonagh, who came into tonight’s fight having lost four out of his last seven fights. Gavin fought well in rounds four through six, but his shots had little effect on McDonagh. The final score was 60-54.

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Lightweight contender Kevin Mitchell (31-0, 23 KO’s) kept his unbeaten record with a 2nd round technical knockout win over Ignacio Mendoza (27-6-2, 18 KO’s) in the main event. Mitchell, 25, landed a huge left hand to the head of Mendoza in the 2nd round, sending him to the canvas. Referee James Davies stepped in and stopped the bout at 1:24 of the 2nd round. There wasn’t much action in the 1st round, as Mitchell circled the ring and pawed with his jab and landed an occasional pot shot right hand.

After the fight, Mitchell said “I wanted to show my strength as well as my movement. I worked. I wanted to show the boxing and the power.” The win didn’t say all that much, however, Mendoza had never really been in with a good fighter before like Mitchell and was clearly out of his league from the moment the fight started.

The win is an important one for Mitchell, because with his number #1 ranking in the WBO lightweight division, he should be next for a fight against WBO lightweight interim champion Michael Katsidis after he gets through his next bout.

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In other results:

Derek Chisora TKO 2 Carl Baker
Jamie Cox dec 8 Michael Frontin
James DeGale TKO 2 Matthew Barr
Frankie Gavin dec 6 Peter McDonagh
Liam Walsh TKO 4 Sid Razak
Ryan Walsh dec 6 Ian Bailey
Kevin Mitchell TKO 2 Ignacio Mendoza
Nathan Cleverly TKO 5 Antonio Brancalion