Boxing: Sinclair stops Roche with first-round body blow

Nobody expected it to last very long, but when it did end after two minutes two seconds there was a sense of disappointment when Neil Sinclair walked away from Derek Roche at Leeds Town Hall on Saturday.

Sinclair retained his British welterweight title for the first time when a short left hook to the body dropped Roche for the full count just when their eagerly anticipated fight was getting interesting.

Roche, who once briefly held the title, was on his knee by about five or six and looked set to get up at nine, but his body simply would not allow him to.

"I thought Derek would get up because he has done so a lot of times,'' said Sinclair. "He was obviously more hurt than he looked.''

Back in January Roche survived six knock-downs to lose on points against South Africa's Jan Bergman, but in front of a packed crowd in his home town there was simply nothing he could do to recover from the effects of the punch to the spot on his ribs just under his elbow.

"I knew where I was and I was ready to get up, but my legs wouldn't do it and there was no way my body could beat that count,'' said Roche.

Sinclair improved his record to 24 wins from 27 fights, 20 of those from either a knock-out or a stoppage. He will now hope that his quick win secures him another world title fight and the chance to add his name to Britain's current list of 23 world champions. Roche, who lost for the fourth time in 30 bouts, could in future find himself being hired as a measuring tool for younger fighters.