Luke Campbell enhanced his burgeoning reputation with a 10th-round stoppage of Tommy Coyle in a WBC lightweight eliminator at Craven Park on Saturday night.
Little could separate the two Hull natives and former sparring partners in a tentative opening round, but the bout exploded into life in the second when Coyle hit the deck following a ferocious body shot, before rising before the count.
Coyle was no stranger to the canvas, having been sent crashing to the ground in two previous fights that he went on to win over the past 13 months. However, it seemed unlikely that the 25-year-old could maintain that record of winning from the floor as Campbell enjoyed the better of it over the following few rounds.
Coyle sparked to life in the seventh as he hurt Campbell with a couple of lefts to the body in arguably the only round that he won up until that point.
Campbell, an Olympic champion from 2012, only had 11 professional fights under his belt compared to Coyle's 23 and a shortage of experience was considered a potential Achilles heel for the pre-fight favourite.
However, the 27-year-old fought back gamely after a troubling seventh round and sent Coyle to the ground again in the 10th with yet another body shot.
Coyle rose, but not for long as he found himself pinned into the corner under a barrage of punches, before Victor Loughlin correctly called a stop to the contest.
