TOM STOKES won a bare-knuckle boxing fight for Britain with his only punch of his 32-second fight.
The West Brom slugger earned a point for us against the USA team with one sensational left hook in the triangle ring.
Will Chope, the Malaysia-based beanpole from the opposite corner, tried to tie our man up in a clinch and whack him on the back of the head with an illegal rabbit punch.
But 28-year-old Stokes, making his bare knuckle debut after 14 pro boxing bouts, caught him perfectly on the chin as the pair parted.
Chope, who towered over the Englishman and wore exotic martial arts shorts and shoes, folded into the floor and never looked like returning before the count.
And he was left with a cut slashed into his right cheek and seeping blood that was tended to once he staggered back to his unsteady feet.
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With his Brummie crowd roaring down the front row of the O2 Indigo, Stokes said: “I am buzzing, I came here to beat him and that’s what I did.
“Thanks to everyone who came and bought a ticket, it means a lot.”
Stokes lost two Midlands Area fights before taking off the gloves, the most recent against Stoke middleweight herp Natham Heaney.
Team UK went one fight down after the opener of the Police Gazette International Cup went to the visiting Americans.
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But Stokes’ peach of a left hook dragged it back to 1-1 with five more fights to follow.
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
