Josh Warrington cruises past Sofiane Takoucht in title defence

Josh Warrington cruised to a dominant second-round knockout victory in his IBF world featherweight title defence against France’s Sofiane Takoucht in Leeds.

Warrington was determined to make amends for his scrappy split-decision victory over Kid Galahad in June and was expected to struggle against the veteran southpaw, who came into the fight with 35 wins from his 39 bouts.

But the Leeds fighter shone from the the opening bell in front of his home crowd at the First Direct Arena and showed why he is one of the leading boxers at the nine-stone division after extending his perfect record to 30-0.

Takoucht’s awkward style saw Warrington initially struggle for his range before the defending champion pinned his French challenger against the ropes with a fine four-shot combination.

Warrington then landed a flush right hand just before the bell rang at the end of the first round and it was one-way traffic thereafter.

Warrington increased the intensity as he swamped all over Takoucht, with the 33-year-old struggling to keep the Yorkshireman at bay.

A left to the head and right to the body saw Takoucht hit the canvas for the first time before Warrington fired another barrage of hooks to send his challenger crashing to the ground once again with over a minute to go in the second round.

Takoucht was scrambling to hold off another onslaught as Warrington sensed blood but the referee stepped in and waved off the contest to the eruption of the Leeds crowd.