Hamza Uddin vows 'no shortcuts' after emphatic British title win

Hamza Uddin is eager to push on quickly after stopping Sean Bruce to become British and Commonwealth flyweight champion.

The Walsall boxing ace claimed the Lonsdale belt in just his eighth professional bout with an impressive eighth round stoppage at Birmingham’s Utilita Arena on Saturday night.

Uddin, 23, has ambitions which stretch well beyond British level having already anointed himself boxing’s “next superstar”.

And after a performance which suggested his confidence could be well placed, he now wants to test himself at a higher level.

“With the weight I am at, I am not sure if it is realistic to try and win the British outright,” he said.

“Maybe I will have one defence and then try to move on to European level. That is one for my team.

“I am always looking at the next step. I am just going to keep racking up the belts, keep stepping up and eventually I want to achieve my dream of becoming the first British Bangladeshi world champion. That is the goal and it never changes.”

Uddin, who had only recently returned from a 10-month break following surgery on a hand injury, was simply too quick and too slick for Bruce.

A stoppage appeared imminent in the fifth round when the champion was dropped twice in quick succession, the first from a sickening body shot which only just saw him beat referee Victor Loughlin’s count.

The next two minutes were Bruce’s best of the night as he caught Uddin flush more than once but the Midlands man soon regained control.

Another powerful body shot, this time with the right, left Bruce doubled over before a follow-up blow to the head sent him to the canvas again late in the eighth.

Once again the Leicester fighter beat the count but this time Loughlin had seen enough, waving off the contest.

Uddin was carried around the ring on the shoulders of his coach in triumph.

Later asked if he was surprised Bruce had survived the fifth round, he replied: “You don’t know how surprised I was. He came with that barrage after I dropped him the second time.

“People thought he got me with a good shot. But it was more in my head thinking how the hell has he got up and is still throwing punches?

“I knew he would be tough. He was the champion and fair play to him, big respect to him.”

Uddin continued: “Nowadays even fighting for the British is a statement. Quite a lot of people are going round it.

“But I said no, I don’t want to do that. I want to take on the champion. I went out there and knocked him out. That is how you win the title.”