In what is hopefully the first of many, Macklin’s Gym Marbella have claimed their first World title belt. At the Manchester Arena on Saturday night, Liverpool’s Liam Smith won the vacant WBO light middleweight title with a seventh round knockout win over American John Thompson.

The Irish-owned Puero Banús outfit manage ‘Beefy’, a former British and Commonwealth champ, who romped to victory on the Boxnation-screened show.

Smith, brother of professional boxers Stephen, Callum, and Paul, started slow but soon began to assert himself on the bout. The 27 year old then finished the fight in the seventh stanza with a left hook-overhand right combination that floored the American, leaving him in no state to continue.

Reflecting on the bout, Smith mused that “I lost the first two rounds and probably the fourth, but I said to my trainer Joe Gallagher at the end of round three this is the fight I wanted.”

The win was also a first World title victory for Joe Gallagher, who also trains Matchroom contenders Scott Quigg and Anthony Crolla.