Bilal Fawaz stops Eithan James to keep British title and collect Eddie Hearn's £5,000 KO bonus
The 38-year-old dropped James twice in the eighth round in Birmingham after Hearn promised him "five grand" for a knockout.
Bilal Fawaz stopped Eithan James in the eighth round to keep his British and Commonwealth super welterweight titles on the Ben Whittaker vs Conor Wallace card in Birmingham on Saturday, and earned the knockout bonus Eddie Hearn had offered him backstage.
"Champ, I'll call you Champ now. All right, we choose violence tonight," Hearn told Fawaz before the fight. "Soldiers, five grand bonus for the KO."
"I want to see your potential. I want to see the violence," Hearn added. "I know you can box, but you can punch harder than you think as well." Fawaz replied: "I haven't used that yet."
A heavy right hand dropped James near the ropes in the eighth, and when James went down a second time the referee stopped it at 1:14 of the round. Matchroom said afterwards the £5,000 bonus had been "bagged".
It was the second defence of his titles for Fawaz, 38, who moves to 13-1-1. James, now 17-3, had never been stopped; every one of his previous fights had gone the distance.
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