Darlington'S Stuart Hall has set his sights on a shot at the European bantamweight title after successfully winning the Lonsdale Belt outright on Saturday night.

Hall fought a patient bout at the Rainton Meadows Arena, but his class shone through eventually, knocking John Donnelly down in the fourth round and a further two times in the fifth, forcing the referee to bring an end to proceedings 2.07 minutes into the round.

Now, Hall wants to face Jamie McDonnell next, with his promoter Frank Maloney pledging to do all he can to pull off the fixture.

Hall said: "I've won the Lonsdale Belt outright, I've beat three superb fighters, the only place I can go now is the European title.

"If not, just go round him and go for the world title.

"I'm so glad I've signed with Frank, hopefully he can get me the fight with Jamie McDonnell, that's the one I want.

However, McDonnell, who was on Wearside to see Hall in action, was less enthusiastic about the prospect of facing the 31-year-old.

"For me, that's a backward step," insisted the reigning European and Commonwealth belt holder.

"He's ranked number 21 or 22 by the WBC - I'm ranked No.9. Why would I come back down to fight him?"

Hall, the British bantamweight champion, has successfully defended his title three times, with victories over Martin Power and Gary Davies coming before the Donnelly win.

But Saturday's was by far Hall's most convincing victory since turning professional in 2008.

Hall took his time to get the better of Donnelly, who rarely made his punches count in the early stages of the fight, which was under the glare of the Sky Sports lights.

But Hall went on the attack in the second, landing a series of crunching right-hand blows to leave Donnelly rocking.

It was in the fourth round that Hall turned the screw, drawing blood from Donnelly's left eye before sending the 26-year old tumbling to the canvas seconds before the bell.

The cutman dealt with Donnelly's gash before Hall opened it up again moments into the fifth, but it was the succession of blows to the face that resulted in Donnelly's second trip to the floor, before the third occurrence brought an end to the bout.

Hall, who postponed his stag do in order to fight on Saturday, said: "I have most definitely made Darlington proud.

"The sad thing about the fans is that I've let them down - they'd all put money on round three.

"But I didn't care about that, I was just boxing my own fight. I wanted to win it.

"I wanted to get settled behind my jab, pick my shots. I was missing with a couple of shots and my trainer said "let's get that uppercut going" - and as soon as I let it go he went down for the first time, so that's the knowledge of my trainer.

"I didn't want to underestimate him. I took my time to see what he had, but once we got into it I knew he wasn't going to win.

"He caught me with a couple of left hooks but they didn't bother me.

"There was no power. I knew he couldn't hurt me, so I got on with the job."

Promoter Maloney said of the prospect of a Hall-McDonnell showdown: "It's a fight Sky Sports would like.

"There's some bitterness, there's some rivalry there.

"I'm going to do my best to get both parties together.

"It would be a real war of attrition."