Commonwealth success for Manc duo

MANCHESTER’S Lyndon Arthur claimed the Commonwealth light heavyweight title with an impressive victory over Ghanaian Emmanuel Anim.

And fellow Mancunian Zelfa Barrett defended his Commonwealth superfeatherweight crown on the same bill at the First Direct Arena in Leeds with a ninth-round win over Jordan McCorry.

Fighting on the undercard of Josh Warrington’s IBF featherweight title defence against Sofiane Takoucht, 29-year-old Arthur was knocked down in the fourth and suffered a bad cut above his left eye in the eighth.

But he 6ft 2ins Moston man, known as ‘King Arthur’, remained composed and dominated the fight, unleashing powerful blows with his strong right, which has seen him complete nine of his 12 knockout wins in two rounds.

And he did enough to claim a unanimous 115-112, 117-111, 117-110 points win and improve his unbeaten record to 16 fights.

Barrett’s bout ended more swiftly as he stopped Scotland’s McCorry, who was floored in both the third and eighth rounds by a succession of effective body shots. Tempers flared at the end of the eighth as McCorry let fly a punch after the bell.

The speed and relentless ferocity of the self-styled ‘Brown Flash’ proved to be too much and when McCorry was knocked down again in the ninth round, the referee called an end to the fight.

Barrett, who now has 23 wins and just one loss, has been linked with next fighting unbeaten Londoner Archie Sharp, who holds the WBO European title.