OLYMPIC bronze medalist Tony Jeffries made it three from three in his professional career with a first-round stoppage of Belarus’ Ilya Shakura to once again delight his home fans.
The Sunderland super-middleweight, who had won his first two pro fights by stoppage, had the man from Minsk in trouble from the beginning of this four-round contest.
Jeffries, who won his bronze medal in Beijing last year as a light-heavyweight, was not tested by Shakura who only lasted just over half of the three-minute first round.
A body shot from Jeffries less than a minute into the contest forced his opponent to go down on one knee and the Belarus fighter soon had a bloodied nose.
Jeffries had Shakura pinned to the ropes when the referee stopped the contest.
A delighted Jeffries said of his home crowd in Seaburn: ‘‘They have come out to watch me again, it was a great atmosphere.
I was really hungry to win after he (Shakura) was saying he was going to do this and do that.’’
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