Dan Azeez continued his climb up the light-heavyweight rankings as he handed former WBA “regular” super-middleweight champion Rocky Fielding a one-sided beating over eight rounds to defend his British title and add the vacant Commonwealth title on the Billam-Smith v Xhoxhaj bill in Bournemouth.

Aged 33, Azeez was a late starter to boxing but he is blooming nicely and is now trained by Buddy McGirt. This was his 18th successive win as a professional, as he steadily broke down Fielding, who at 35, did not have enough left to stick with him.

“He was tough, to be honest I thought I might get him out of there a bit earlier, but he showed his experience,” Azeez said. “Even when I tried to blast him out of there, he knew how to tuck up and come back.

“I’m the midget in the division, everyone is taller than me, so there is nothing better than going down to the body and it worked again.

“I would love to get on the January 21 card. I feel good, I’ve been in the gym, I weighed in my career lightest and I feel good.”

The titles were not on the line for Fielding after he had failed to make weight, but this had been more for Fielding about whether the former WBA “regular” champion could move back into world class than becoming a two-weight British champion.

Azeez started well, outworking Fielding in the first round as the Liverpudlian tried to find his range. Early in the second round, Fielding was cut around the left eye, probably by a clash of heads as Azeez came in low, and Azeez kept Fielding under solid pressure, forcing the Liverpudlian to fight with his back to the ropes.

Fielding was trying to catch Azeez coming in with hooks in the third round, but Azeez, coming in low, ducked under them and backed Fielding into the ropes, making space for hooks and uppercuts, although he was warned by referee Kevin Parker for going in with his head.

The fourth was closer as Fielding got busier and matched Azeez’s workrate, although Azeez was landing the more solid shots.

A punch that was working well for Azeez was the left jab and he landed a lot of punches in the fifth round as he kept Fielding moving backwards. The sixth was a good round, as Fielding landed a good left that Azeez certainly felt, but Azeez came back well and landed two hard left hooks on the ropes as the round ended.

Things started to get one-sided in the seventh round, as Azeez had Fielding under constant pressure and then dropped him with a right to the body right at the end of the round.

Between rounds, Fielding’s trainer, Jamie Moore, gave him one round to turn things rounds, but he was under attack as soon as the bell sounded. Once more, Azeez was giving him a solid working over, but when Fielding was backed into the ropes, Azeez started to unload and Moore threw in the towel at 2:05 of the eighth round.

Azeez has been nominated to box for the vacant European title, but said he was also interested in a fight with Lyndon Arthur.

“I am aware that [Ben Shalom, his promoter] has made offers but it has been turned down,” Azeez said. “I can’t force anyone to fight, but I would love to have that fight. I am in this sport to fight good fighters, I don’t just want to fight anybody, I want fights where people think I could lose.”

Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.