Anthony Crolla
Crolla ended an 11- month wait for his maiden world title. Getty Images

Anthony Crolla produced a fifth round stoppage of Darleys Perez to win the WBA world lightweight title at the second time of asking in Manchester. The 29-year-old stunned Perez with a body shot as the fight approached the half-way point which saw the Colombia fighter collapse in a heap and unable to respond to the count of 10.

Crolla had twice initially been denied his maiden world title in cruel circumstances first after being knocked unconscious by a concrete block in December 2012 when confronting burglars and then in July after a split decision in the first meeting with Perez. But he was not to be denied on an emotional night on home turf.

"It is an amazing feeling, it is a dream come true, now I just want many more nights like this in Manchester," he said, according to BBC Sport. "I've dreamed this dream since I was 10. I didn't know it was going to be this good. It is better than I ever dreamed it would be.

"I was very confident I would get him out of there. I thought it would have been a head shot. I touched him with a right hand and sunk him with a left."

Martin Murray was however unable to make it a double success for Britain after being defeated by WBO world super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham via a split decision in Hannover. The 33-year-old was fighting for a world title for a fourth time but despite an encouraging start his German opponent successfully defended his title for a fifth time in front of a home crowd.

In Las Vegas, new WBC world middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez has wasted little time in laying down a challenge to unbeaten Kazakhstan world champion Gennady Golovkin after beating Miguel Cotto by a unanimous points decision. The Mexican dominated for long periods and was awarded the victory by all three judges over a despairing Cotto, who had been stripped of his WBC crown earlier in the week after failing to pay a sanctioning fee.

"We knew going into this fight that it would be a difficult journey, but I feel that I was the faster and stronger fighter tonight," the 25-year-old said. "I have respect for Golovkin, but if we do fight, it's going to be at my weight class. I'm the champion, I don't have to do what he wants."

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