Boxing: Hamed puts on fine show

NASEEM HAMED produced a fearsome performance in his home town of Sheffield last night to retain the European bantamweight title. In his first defence, the extrovert Hamed, who in May became the youngest British fighter to win a European title at the age of 20, made short work of his Italian challenger, Antonio Picardi, with a third-round stoppage at the Hillsborough Leisure Centre then celebrated his triumph with a cartwheel across the ring.

Down the card, Duke McKenzie warmed up for his 1 October meeting with the World Boxing Organisation featherweight champion, Steve Robinson, with an impressive win.

The 31-year-old Croydon fighter, who was the first Briton for nearly a century to hold a version of the world championship at three different weights, swept aside Burnley's Mark Hargreaves in three rounds of their super- featherweight contest.

The slick McKenzie showed he has lost none of his style and was never in any danger against the clearly outclassed Hargreaves.

Dublin's Olympic gold medallist Michael Carruth extended his professional record to three wins in three fights by stopping Mark Antony, of Worksop, in the third round of their welterweight bout.