CRAIG Evans suffered a ninth-round stoppage at the hands of Roman Andreev in their WBO world lightweight title eliminator in Russia.

Home fighter Andreev took his perfect pro record to 21-0 and set himself up for a showdown with either Raymundo Beltran or Paulus Moses later this year.

Those two are set to battle it out for the world strap, which was vacated by Englishman Terry Flanagan, in Nevada on February 16.

In beating a brave Evans, who only took the bout at four weeks' notice, Andreev also claimed the WBO international belt and his opponent's European crown.

Defeat for Blackwood ace Evans, who had St Josephs trainer Tony Borg in his corner at the Bolshoy Ice Dome in Adler, south-west Russia, takes his record to 17-2-2.

Elsewhere, St Joes stablemate Sean McGoldrick maintained an unbeaten start to his professional career with a fourth straight win in London.

Fighting at the O2 Arena, the Newport bantamweight stopped Ghana's Michael Barnor in the third of their six-round contest.

It was a second victory inside the distance for the former amateur star, who won Commonwealth Games gold in 2010 and bronze four years later.

With Borg over in Russia, McGoldrick had St Joes stalwart Billy Reynolds supporting him.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, taekwondo starlet Lauren Williams, also from Blackwood, was crowned women's -67kg champion at the US Open.