Rob Hunt suffers shock first defeat

Stafford's only professional boxer Rob Hunt will spend his birthday reflecting on his first defeat after a shock loss at Stoke's Moat House Hotel.

Two days before his 25th birthday, Hunt took the step up to championship level after putting together a 15-fight unbeaten record.

But the Stafford ticket seller was beaten in six rounds by Skegness' Ben Lawler for the vacant British Masters welterweight title.

Hunt protested about referee Terry O'Connor's stoppage – leaving manager and promoter Paul Dykes hoping to secure another match between the pair at the same venue next February, having seen his charge box his way back into the fight after a shocking start to the scheduled 10-rounder.

The punching plasterer widely outpointed Lawler, a former Midlands light welterweight champion, at Wolverhampton Civic Hall in September, but hit the deck in the opening round after being planted flush with a right hand-left hook.

Although not badly dazed and up quickly, Hunt had to grab hold when another right hand crashed onto his chin seconds after the fight restarted.

But he got through the crisis although Lawler, looking so much stronger in the 10st 7lbs division, knew he had the power to trouble his opponent and went looking for the knockout in the second.

Early in the round, Hunt took another count and just before the bell, a left hook dumped him on the seat of his trunks.

He went back to his stool dazed and with a bloody nose but, to the delight of his many supporters, rallied superbly and in the fourth, Lawler was hurt by a perfectly-timed left-hook counter.

Hunt, who had twice picked himself off the floor in previous fights, beat Lawler to the punch repeatedly throughout the fifth with solid jabs to close the gap further on the referee's scorecard.

Lawler, perhaps sensing he was losing his grip on the fight, stepped up his attacks in the sixth and, after a right hand drove Hunt back into a corner, the referee stepped in.

Hunt, clearly believing he wasn't badly hurt and could have gone on to win the fight, was furious and his supporters booed the intervention.

But Dykes wasn't surprised to see his boxer suffer his first defeat as a professional.

He said: "Rob just wasn't himself in there. He didn't seem right in the dressing room before the fight and after the first couple of rounds, he had a lot to do after being on the floor three times.

"I thought he was just getting back into it before the stoppage.

"I spoke to Lawler's manager Carl Greaves straight after the fight and he has agreed to come back to Stoke to defend the belt next year."

By Matt Bozeat