London, April 30 (IANS) Vijender Singh registered the fifth consecutive win of his fledgling professional career with a technical knockout of Matiouze Royer of France at the Copper Box Arena here on Saturday.
This was however, the longest fight so far of Vijender's career as a profusely bleeding Royer braved a fearsome assault from the Indian and managed to drag him till the fifth round before the referee stopped the contest.
The 30-year-old from Haryana completely dominated his much-experienced opponent. Such was Vijender's dominance that Royer hardly managed to land a punch throughout the five rounds.
Both boxers were a bit cagey in the opening round, trying to assess each other. Royer was a bit defensive while Vijender was the more aggressive and landed several punches.
The Indian wrested the upper hand in the second round, pounding the Frenchman with a barrage of powerpacked punches. He cut up Royer's eye with a right uppercut as blood flowed down the Frenchman's face.
Despite visibly struggling, Royer fought bravely on. He continued to take a relentless pounding from Vijender in the third and fourth rounds. At one point, he was forced to go on one knee due to a strong blow from Vijender but got up back on his feet quickly.
In the fifth round, Vijender managed to find a gap in Royer's defence and landed several punches on his face and upper body that forced him onto the ropes.
The increased bleeding from the cut above Royer's eye forced the referee to call in the doctor. The fight was then called off after a brief inspection.
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