Sam Hyde suffered a gruesome eye injury during his cruiserweight defeat to Richard Riakporhe on the undercard of Oleksandr Usyk vs Tony Bellew.
Fighting in his home city of Manchester, Hyde started the better of the two before he was hit by a series of thunderous right hooks in the eighth, causing his eye to swell out grotesquely.
Smelling blood, Londoner Riakporhe took control of the contest with Hyde’s trainer Joe Gallagher throwing in the towel to pull his 25-year-old charge out of the firing line.
The win saw the undefeated Riakporhe claim the vacant WBA Inter-Continental cruiserweight title and extend his record to 8-0.
Bellew meanwhile is aiming to become the first Briton since Lennox Lewis to become an undisputed world champion.
Standing in his way his the undefeated Ukrainian Usyk, who holds every title at cruiserweight level with designs on moving up to heavyweight to challenge Anthony Joshua.
