A brief round-up of the weekend's action;

MURRAY STOPS THAXTON IN FOUR

John Murray emerged as British boxing's next superstar in waiting, with the potential to take over from Ricky Hatton as a Manchester legend, as he took only four rounds to stop Jon Thaxton, the former European champion.

Aged 24 and unbeaten in 28 bouts, Murray seems ready for the big time. The win in Altrincham enabled him to regain the British lightweight title he lost when weighing 2oz over the limit for a title defence in June.

But lesson learnt, Murray is beginning to look a complete boxer. While he now chases a world title at lightweight, in the long term a clash with another boxer from Greater Manchester, Amir Khan, the WBA light-welterweight champion, becomes a mouthwatering prospect.

The similarities with Hatton, another aggressive pressure fighter, are obvious. Murray trains, under Joe Gallagher, in the same gym in Denton where Hatton worked with Billy Graham for 11 years and he even supports Manchester City. But Murray must now make the step from selling out leisure centers to filling big arenas, although the healthy crowd that watched him weigh in at the Arndale Centre in Manchester shows that he is becoming well known.

"Ricky is coming to the end of his career now, so hopefully I can be the heir apparent," Murray said. "I'm starting to make a name for myself in Manchester and I want to build on that."

He hunted down Thaxton, 35, in fine style, throwing hard punches from behind a high guard. Thaxton was caught flush several times by Murray before an overhand right had him backtracking to the ropes, prompting Howard Foster, the referee, to stop the bout. Thaxton and his corner protested, but the outcome looked inevitable.

"Every time I landed I seemed to rock him to his boots," Murray said. "He's had a great career; there is no point him going out on his back."

Gallagher, who trained Matthew Macklin to win the European middleweight title eight days earlier, called it "a punch-perfect performance".

Murray is mandatory challenger for the European title, held by Anthony Mezaache, of France, but Mick Hennessy, his promoter, could look farther afield. "He's one of the very best lightweights on the world stage now," he said. "He could be ready for a big fight in America."

Murray has already boxed across the Atlantic four times, twice in Las Vegas in 2007, where he fought on the Floyd Mayweather Jr-Oscar De La Hoya undercard and topped a bill the night before Mayweather-Hatton.

"I've proved I'm the best in Britain," Murray said. "I want to box again as soon as possible and I want to box for a world title within 12 months. Michael Katsidis [the interim WBO champion from Australia] has just won a title. That would be a great fight and I think I have the style to beat him." Hatton, of course, beat an Australian [Kostya Tszyu] for his first genuine world title