Akinwande dismisses Sargent in the first

Boxing

Henry Akinwande secured a comfortable victory over America's Brian Sargent in a heavyweight bout on Don King's "Preamble to the Super Bowl" promotion in Phoenix, Arizona.

Akinwande, from London, who now has 28 wins in 29 bouts, twice knocked down Sargent, from Minnesota, before the fight was stopped after only 2min 47sec of the first of 10 scheduled rounds.

Sargent was a last-minute replacement for the former World Council heavyweight champion Oliver McCall - who withdrew without a reason on Thursday - but was no match for the 30-year-old Briton.

Bernard Hopkins defended his International Federation middleweight title by stopping Steve Frank in 24 seconds. The bell rang and the fighters met in the middle of the ring, Hopkins scored with an overhand right, then fired two left jabs before connecting with a right to the head of Frank, who tumbled to the canvas.

Frank just beat the count of referee Bobby Ferrara, who stared into Frank's eyes before stopping the fight. There was a mild protest from the fans at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, but not much from Frank or his corner. "He barely beat the count, which told me he was hurt very bad," Ferrara said.

Another quick conclusion came when the Californian, Terry Norris, stopped Nicaragua's Jorge Luis Vado after 42 seconds of the second round to retain his WBC and IBF junior middleweight titles.

Venezuela's Eloy Rojas remained World Association featherweight champion with a unanimous but unpopular 12-round decision over Miguel Arrozal of the Philippines.