STOURBRIDGE'S Sam Eggington stopped Frankie Gavin in Birmingham's Barclaycard Arena tonight.

The Savage, 23, claimed the WBO International Welterweight title and took local bragging rights after a barnstorming encounter in front of the Sky Sports cameras.

The fight came to life in round three when Eggington knocked down his 32-year-old rival.

However, if the Black Country boy thought he was going to have it his own way he was wrong as Funtime came roaring back.

His left hand counters and work on the inside continued to cause problems.

Eggington ended the fifth round with a flurry of shots before hurting Gavin to his body mid-way through the sixth.

His accurate shot to the solar plexus forced a standing count with just the ropes keeping Gavin on his feet.

The Brummie showed his heart again in round seven as he found good shots despite being drawn into an unwanted scrap with Stour's aptly named Savage.

The clash was halted in the eighth round when Eggington again got through with sickening back-to-back body shots.

Gavin covered up as his rival relentlessly rained down blows with his man huddled in the corner.

The ref eventually stepped in to hand the Stourbridge man a thrilling success.

Eggington said: "I can't explain it. I'm absolutely over the moon. Me and Frankie had a bit of needle but we're fine again now, that's boxing.

"I keep fighting good boxers and it's hard to find a game plan for that because of the way I box. I keep saying to Jon (Pegg) get me a fight where I can just stand there and we can have a fight. And credit to Frankie he's shown it in many rounds that he can put it in there and we had a good fight."

Gavin added: "I've shown people now I'm not this little light boxer. I can have a fight when I need to and I'm not just going to run off. I've been told I was ahead of the scorecards so I want to do it again.

"That's no disrespect to Sam, the better man won."

Meanwhile, earlier on the night, Oldbury's Craig Cunningham pulled off an upset by forcing an eighth round stoppage against former Olympian Anthony Ogogo.

Cunningham handed the 27-year-old his first pro defeat to take the WBC International belt and open the door for some big fights in the Middleweight division.