Derek Roche's world title dream was buried beneath a hail of punches in Belfast on Saturday night.

The Bradford-based fighter was stopped in just two rounds by Bristol's Adrian Stone in their IBO light-middleweight battle.

Champion Stone unloaded with a textbook right hook which floored Roche early in the second round and he never fully recovered.

Former British welterweight champion Roche scrambled to his feet but Stone wasn't going to let him off the hook and another sharp right had the challenger on his knees.

He barely beat the count of American referee Bill Connors and as Stone jumped on him immediately the official stepped in to call a halt at 2min 37sec.

Roche, who lost his British title to Harry Dhami earlier in the year, was hoping to bounce back and produced some good work in the opening round.

But Stone's clear edge in class was evident as he worked beautifully from body to head.

Roche has hit the canvas seven times in two title fights this year and he will now have to carefully consider his future.

His manager John Celebanski said: "We can have no complaints about the outcome. Stone was a little bit special and just too good for Derek.

"We will be urging him to take a short holiday and probably think about what he wants to do next.

"I will talk to him early in the new year and see what he would like to do.

"Obviously he has had a number of very hard fights and they can take their toll, but if he is keen to carry on then we shall have a look at what fights there are for him.

"One thing which is certain is that he will not fight at light-middleweight again. He needs to go back down to welterweight and it is possible we might be able to get a Commonwealth title shot for him.

"I believe he would also be a suitable opponent for the winner of the British title fight between Harry Dhami and Spencer McCracken, but first I need to see how Derek feels about things.

"I wouldn't push him to fight on if he didn't want to, neither would I let him if I didn't feel he was right."