James DeGale proved too strong for his Croatian opponent as he successfully defended his WBC silver super-middleweight belt at Glow Bluewater.

The former Olympic Champion comfortably defended his title with a technical fifth round knockout over veteran Stjepan Bozic.

Bozic, who once defeated Carl Froch as an amateur, was pulled out before the start of the fifth round after his corner told the referee to stop the fight.

DeGale, who defeated Sebastien Demers in Canada in May, was rarely troubled by his opponent before securing his sixth straight victory since a 2011 defeat to George Groves.

It was an excellent opening round from the Hammersmith-born fighter, landing a multitude of sharp body shots to hurt Bozic and seize the early momentum.

The Croatian struggled to land anything notable on DeGale as he looked to work his way into the fight. Smart footwork from the Brit allowed a couple of speed right-handers, but DeGale then appeared to sit back in the second round and gave Bozic a sighter at him on the ropes.

Bozic was caught by a low left shot from DeGale, landing just below the belt, but both soon ignited in the third with a flurry of action. First DeGale showed his speed to land several body blows, but Bozic hit back on the counter to spark the Bluewater crowd into life.

DeGale leant with another left shy of the belt, which further hurt Bozic – this time the veteran did take time out on the ropes to compose himself as the referee advised the Londoner to keep his hands up.

However, DeGale was seemingly unfazed by his own mistakes as he finished the fourth in style with a powerful left-right combo.

It proved too much for Bozic, whose face had begun to flare up following the earlier punishment, and his corner soon asked the referee to put a stop to the fight and give DeGale the win.

Earlier in the evening, Chris Eubank Junior once again showed his class as he maintained his unbeaten record with a technical knockout at the end of the eighth round against Tyan Booth in front of the Channel 5 TV cameras.

Watched on by his father, Eubank Junior showed all the necessary skills to outbox his opponent with Gillingham manager Martin Allen and Chairman Paul Scally just some of the familiar faces in the Kent crowd.