Hamza Uddin targeting titles after 'close to perfect' performance
Hamza Uddin is ready to fight for titles after extending his perfect record as a professional with an impressive stoppage of Leandro Jose Blanc.
The Walsall flyweight made it five wins from five in the paid ranks by stopping Blanc, who represented Argentina at the 2016 Olympics, in the seventh round of Saturday’s contest at Birmingham’s BP Pulse Arena.
Uddin, who has outlined his ambition to become the first British Bangladeshi world champion, is eager to move up the ranks and a shot at the English title is now likely later this year.
The 21-year-old ace told the Express & Star: “You can’t go any lower than a title now. So I think that is in the cards now, for sure.
“(Promoter) Eddie Hearn and my manager, Sam (Jones), are both pleased. It is going to be an exciting second half of the year, that is for sure.
“After that performance, I think Eddie is going to make sure I am in a title fight next. I am absolutely ready.”
Uddin smiled when revealing he had given Matchroom boss Hearn “some stick” for putting his fight at the very start of Saturday’s nine fight card.
But those spectators who had got to the venue early were soon making noise as the Walsall man impressively moved through the gears.
Early work to Blanc’s body paid dividends in the latter stages of the eight-round contest as the visiting fighter, always on the back foot, countered less and less.
Yet a finish remained frustratingly elusive until Uddin stunned his opponent with a sweeping left in the final minute of the seventh. A flurry of 13 unanswered punches had Blanc hurt and back-pedalling and though he was still on his feet when referee Ryan Churchill stepped in, there could be few real complaints about the stoppage.
“Maybe it was a little early but the referee was only delaying the inevitable,” said Uddin, for whom it was the second stoppage win of his career.
“There is no perfect performance but that was as close as. He is a real 2016 Olympian, who had more than 100 amateur fights and a continental champion as a pro.
“That is a very good opponent for what was just my fifth fight. I just picked the pressure up and in the end I went through the gears and took him out in style.
“He was tough. He took a lot of damage. I have been saying to everyone he had a hard head. But that is the game I am in.”
