April 29, 2000

On the undercard of the dreaded Lennox Lewis-Mike Grant show at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, April 29, Paul Ingle (23-1, 16KOs), the IBF featherweight champion, came off the mat in the eighth round to stop hometown favorite, Brooklyn's own, Junior Jones (47-5, 27KOs) in the eleventh round. It was Ingle's first defense of the title he won last November.

Ingle-Jones, a part of the "TWO BIG: 13 Feet, 500 Pound," pay-per-view telecast, was televised live on HBO/TVKO Pay-Per-View at a suggested retail of $44.95.

Ingle, in the view of may at ring side was comfortably ahead on points when Jones caught the champion coming in with a hard right-hand counter that planted Ingle on his back.

Jones, who immediately ceased control of the bout, found himself in grave trouble when Ingle landed a sneaky straight-left that forced referee Arthur Mercante, Jr. to issue a standing 8-count.

Jones, clearly on wobbly legs, found himself rolling on the Garden ring after the champion continuously punished him with a barrage of punches upside his head.

The bout came to an abrupt end at the 1:16 second mark when Jones, trapped against a neutral corner, was disoriented, defenseless, and had nothing left.

Ingle, famous for going eleven rounds with unrecognized WBO 126-pound champion, "Prince" Naseem Hamed (TKO by 11), in April 1999, has his sights set on a rematch with his native countryman. However, a Hamed-Ingle II would mean very little, if not, nothing unless Hamed, who just knocked out Vuyani Bungu, a former IBF 122-pound champion, can straighten his "act" and start putting forth some impressive performances inside the ring.

Also on the undercard: Former world champion, Arturo Gatti (32-4, 26KOs) found himself in another mismatch when he stopped last minute replacement Eric Jakubowski (20-7, 4KOs) in the second round.

Lastly, Wladimir Klitschko (33-1, 31KOs) knocked out David Bostice (21-2-1, 12KOs) in the second round as well.