Few prospects in the UK have been talked about as much as Dennis McCann and he recorded his best win to date by stopping former British title challenger Jimmy Beech Jr in the eighth round at the Copper Box.

At times McCann looked excellent. He started like a whirlwind, knocking Beech down in the first, but, as he has done before, he seemed to switch off in the middle rounds when he was too easy to hit.

Having said that, when he was back on his game, he regained control and produced a good stoppage.

At 21 and in his first fight since stepping up to featherweight (he won the WBC silver belt) there is no reason he should be the finished article yet, but now at 13-0, he is going in the right direction.

McCann made a sensational start, rocking Beech with an uppercut and then unloading a huge flurry of punches that eventually sent Beech to the canvas. Then, after rocking him again, McCann went furiously for the finish again, but rushed his work.

He settled down over the next two rounds, but again landed some good shots, a left uppercut on the inside in the second and a nice right hook in the third, but Beech was starting to gain some confidence.

Beech had a good fourth, as McCann dropped his hands and tried to just turn away from punches, trying to load up on counters, although he had little success in avoiding them.

The Midlander continued to do well in the fifth, landing with straighter shots, while McCann moved around and loaded up. And while McCann showboated late in the round, putting his hands behind his back and dramatically slipping punches, he wasn’t landing much.

McCann was cut next to the right eye early in the sixth, although he did land a thumping right, his best punch for a bit, as he upped his game.

The seventh was a good round for McCann, as he regained control over the fight and began spearing Beech with punches from distance again.

At the start of the eighth, Beech started to look very banged up and McCann pressed the pace, dropping him with a clubbing right hook.

Beech looked all in when he rose, but referee Victor Loughlin allowed him to continue, he was instantly in trouble on the ropes, as McCann picked his shots better than he had done in the first round. As he was rocked back on the ropes, the towel flew in from Beech’s corner, prompting Loughlin to wave it off. The time was 1:34.

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.