The latest boxing news from Newham

Peacock Gym-based Anthony Yarde made a successful defence of his WBO inter-continental light heavyweight title against Walter Gabriel Sequeira at the Brentwood Centre on Saturday.

Yarde was able to beat his Argentine rivals with a fourth-round stoppage on a Frank Warren bill that was shown live by BT Sport.

The 27-year-old looked a lot bigger than his opponent and came out taking the fight to the Argentine, putting Sequeira on the back foot from the off.

The second round saw Sequeira trying to match Yarde’s work rate, but the Argentine was unable to carry the same power in his punches.

The third round went much the same way, before Yarde dominated the fourth with powerful hooks and uppercuts.

The 27-year-old knocked his rival down to the canvas three times before referee Phil Edwards intervened and brought the fight to an end.

After the 16th knockout win of his professional career, Yarde said: “Sequeira was awkward and I had to work him out.

“This was only my 17th professional fight and I only had 12 amateur bouts before that, so I am still doing my apprenticeship.”

Former West Ham amateur Lucien Reid was also in winning form at the Brentwood Centre, beating Nicaragua’s Rafael Castillo to make it eight wins in the paid ranks.

The 25-year-old, however, was taken the distance for the third fight in succession by Castillo.

After dominating the opening round, a clash of heads in the second opened up a cut over Reid’s left eye, which troubled ‘Lethal’ right up until the final bell despite a good job from the cut man in his corner.

After Castillo had taken so many powerful jabs and hooks throughout, the Nicaraguan finally went down in the seventh after a cluster of punches from Reid, but the brave opponent was soon up on his feet.

Reid, an orthodox boxer with good head movement who often switches to southpaw, was always in control of the contest and received the decision from referee Kieran McCann.

After the victory, Reid said: “Castillo was very strong and he took all of my hard punches.

“This was the first time I had been cut in a boxing ring; the only other time I was cut was when my brother caught me with a golf club.”