Hickman stopped in title fight

West Bromwich boxer Dean Hickman's English lightweight title hopes were left in tatters last night when the referee Ian John Lewis stopped his fight against John Murray from Manchester in the fourth round after Hickman had been battered to the canvas.

Hickman was the underdog for the fight in Nottingham and he never really got to grip with Murray.

Their fight was on the undercard to the main fight of the night when Carl Froch took on Robin Reid for British super-middleweight title.

Froch took the fight when Reid retired at the end of the fifth round with a shoulder injury.

Froch who is still unbeaten says he now wants to fight Joe Calzaghe and says he will even go to Wales to take on the world champion.