Sporting Digest: Boxing

NASEEM HAMED, the 20-year-old European bantamweight champion, successfully stepped up in weight and class to beat Freddy Cruz in Sheffield last night. Naseem won the vacant WBC international super-bantamweight title in the sixth round, but more significantly he became the first man to halt the 32-year-old fighter from the Dominican Republic in 56 contests.

PROFESSIONAL PROMOTION (Ponds Forge, Sheffield): 12-rd vacant WBC international super-bantamweight title: Naseem Hamed (Sheff) bt F Cruz (Dom Rep) rsf 6th; 6-rd welterweight: H Williams (Mountain Ash) bt P Salmon (Plymouth) rsf 4th. 6-rd middleweight: A Ewen (Ipswich) bt P Mitchell (Southampton) pts. 6-rd welterweight: M Carruth (Dublin) bt Rick North (Grimsby) pts; 8-rd super-featherweight: J Juuko (Uganda) bt J Reyes (Dom) pts; 6-rd heavyweight: K Fletcher (Reading) bt D Gascoyne (Sheff) pts; 6-rd super-middleweight: V Golding (Croydon) bt E Noi (Middleton) pts.