Michael Brodie of Britain retained his European super bantamweight title with a fourth-round win over Frenchman Mustafa Hame Saturday at Manchester, England.
The 26-year-old almost saw his dream of a world title bid later this year go up in smoke as he was floored by a straight-left in the opening round.
But Brodie recovered well to catch Hame, who had only won 18 of his previous 35 bouts, with some clean punches in the second.
A low blow then had the challenger writhing in agony on the canvas in the third, with Brodie being deducted a point for the offence.
But the incident failed to unsettle the champion as he followed up with a clinical left hook to the body in the next round, from which Hame never looked like getting up.
It was a fifth defense of this belt for Brodie, who is now set to take on North American champion Willie Jorrin for the vacant WBC title in September - (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
