Ricky Burns of Scotland stopped former champion Nicky Cook of England in the first round to successfully retain his WBO super featherweight title at Echo Arena on Saturday.
Burns floored Cook in the opening seconds, including a hard right to the back. A glancing blow put Cook down again, and though he got to his feet, Cook was struggling. More rights to the body dropped Cook and his corner threw in the towel to end the scheduled 12-rounder after only 1:33.
Cook was taken out of the ring on a stretcher and to a hospital for a possible spinal injury, promoter Frank Warren told the British Press Association.
Burns (32-2, 9 KO) was making his third defense of the title since taking it from Roman Martinez last year, while it was the second fight for Cook (30-3, 16 KO) since losing the same title to Martinez in 2009.
