GAVIN Gwynne is the new Commonwealth lightweight champion after a seventh-round stoppage of Belfast’s Sean McComb at the University of Bolton Stadium.

Gwynne, trained by Tony Borg in Newport, took the vacant belt following the disappointment of title fight defeats by Joe Cordina and James Tennyson in the past 18 months.

In winning, Gwynne, 30, ended McComb’s (11-1) unbeaten record and added the Commonwealth crown to his Welsh strap, which he won back in December 2017.

Speaking to iFL TV after a thrilling contest, an emotional Gwynne (13-2) said: “I’m speechless, I don’t know what to say.

“I can’t put into words how much this means to me. This is my boy’s belt now, he’ll be so happy when I go home.

“I put so much into this camp, no-one was going to beat me. You could have put any world-class fighter in there tonight, I wasn’t going to stop.”

It was an action-packed encounter from the first bell, Gwynne taking the initiative before McComb put together a tasty three-punch combination.

A solid right to the body from Gwynne was countered by two sharp lefts, before right at the end of the round McComb suffered a cut to his right eye.

After taking the opener, McComb did enough to win the second, despite an eye-catching body shot and uppercut from the Welshman.

Gwynne reduced the deficit in the next, the Trelewis man working his opponent on the inside and finding the target regularly.

McComb started the fourth the better, unleashing single shots and then flurries, while also switching from his southpaw stance to orthodox to get the better of his rival.

The fifth round began well for Gwynne as he landed a couple of stinging left hooks and came forward at every opportunity.

However, a stray elbow from McComb towards the end of the round left a nasty cut on the back of Gwynne’s head.

The first signs of tiredness in McComb were in evidence in the sixth, with Gwynne landing a three-punch combination and then finishing the round strongly.

Then with about 45 seconds left of round seven, McComb turned his back on Gwynne as the Welshman piled on the pressure, leaving referee Steve Gray no option but to stop the fight.

“I knew I couldn’t stay on the back foot with him,” added Gwynne. “We know what he’s all about, he was a class amateur, so I couldn’t outbox him, I had to take it to him and take him out of his stride.

“We know he cuts up, so when I cut him in the first round I knew it was going to play on his mind.

“I cut him in the second round and then started going to work and putting my shots together.

“I knew if I put it on him he would crumble and we got him out of there in the end and Tony’s game plan worked.”