Brook vs DeLuca results: Kid Galahad stops Claudio Marrero in IBF eliminator

Kid Galahad firmly established himself as a serious featherweight contender once again today, pretty much having his way against Claudio Marrero en route to a stoppage win after eight rounds in an IBF eliminator.

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Galahad (27-1, 16 KO) was his usual self here, sound and sharp, smart and tactical, and on the sides a little bit dirty, “crafty” if you want to be kinder about it. The 29-year-old contender was coming back from a controversial split decision loss to IBF titleholder Josh Warrington last June, and stepped right back in with Marrero (24-4, 17 KO), a solid contender himself.

Galahad wound up breaking Marrero down in this fight, clearly hurting him in the seventh round and busting the Dominican’s nose. A dominant next round for Galahad led Marrero’s corner to calling it off after eight.

Galahad said he felt it was a career-best performance.

“I’m over the moon,” he said. “I knew I had to bring my A-game against this kid. After (the Warrington fight), I didn’t want to leave anything to the judges. Marrero’s in the top 10 in the featherweight division. To do that to someone like him, it’s a good thing.”

Promoter Eddie Hearn doesn’t sound certain that Galahad will face Warrington again — Warrington’s promoter Frank Warren and Top Rank have talked about a possible unification this summer with WBO titlist Shakur Stevenson — but he is confident that Galahad will be in a world title fight.

“We know Warrington’s likely to have a defense very soon, but he’s there, he’s mandatory again,” Hearn said. “There’s other options, too, but he’ll get another shot for a world title.”

Hearn mentioned WBA titleholder Xu Can as another possible foe for Galahad.

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