Boxing: Derek Roche took the vacant British welterweight title in Manchester on Saturday night with a seventh-round knockout of Charlie Kane - but not before the Scot had given the Bradford-trained boxer a real scare.

Kane was ahead on referee Roy Francis' card halfway through the 12-round contest after he weathered Roche's initial onslaught and hit back with some precise punching.

Roche started strongly, taking the first two rounds with a flurry of punches that left Kane on the canvas midway though the second. But Kane, who had a significant height advantage over the Leeds-based Irishman, hit back in style in the third when a left cross floored Roche and left him with a small cut.

From there Kane gained the upper hand, winning the fourth and fifth, prompting a shift in tactics in the Roche camp at the start of the seventh in favour of a more aggressive style.

It paid dividends almost immediately as Roche again put Kane down with a ferocious punch and, although the Glaswegian managed to get up, his legs were unsteady and Roche finished the job.

"We had to change the game plan and make Derek go up a gear," said Roche's manager, John Celebanski. "He was behind and we needed to turn it around.

"It was his punching power that got him back on course, and that's what it is all about. Kane was very accurate and very awkward.

"We are all delighted. It's marvellous and I know Derek wants a quick defence of the title so that we can move towards the long-term aim of a European title bout.

Prince Naseem Hamed was left to thank the hand that pained him. It settled his argument with Paul Ingle in a time-honoured style which could only bring admiration from master trainer and tactician Emanuel Steward.

The instinctive logic was simple - if the fight is going badly, pull out the big punch, champion-fashion.

Hamed did just that - a ramming left through the middle to pull himself out of trouble in his 12th WBO featherweight title defence, after hurting the same hand some half a dozen rounds earlier.

His nose was also badly bloodied and swollen by the rugged little man from Scarborough, and Hamed already knew that his stinging fist would require an X-ray.

It was new territory for Hamed and was as potentially dangerous for him in the later rounds as in the early ones against Kevin Kelley on his American debut 16 months ago.

Steward urged him to throw the crucial blow which sent the challenger crashing. The courageous Ingle was halted after 45 seconds of the 11th.

Veteran Tommy Hearns landed his seventh version of a world' title - the IBO cruiser - by comfortably and unanimously outscoring fellow American Nat Miller on his British professional debut.

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