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Ant Crolla celebrates after defeating Darleys Perez to win the WBA lightweight title last night. Peter Byrne
Triumph over adversity

Crolla becomes world champion less than a year after brutal assault left him with a fractured skull

A beautiful body-shot KO secured the win.

BRITAIN’S ANT CROLLA became the WBA lightweight champion last night, less than a year after suffering a fractured skull from being hit on the head with a concrete slab in a brutal street assault.

Crolla was attacked while chasing a burglar away from his neighbour’s home in Greater Manchester in December 2014.

Having regained fitness, he was denied a world title in July when his first fight with Darleys Perez was declared a draw.

But, in front of his hometown crowd at the Manchester Arena, Crolla’s powerful body-shot saw the 29-year-old stop his Colombian rival with 30 seconds of the fifth round left in their rematch. Perez fell to the canvas and failed to beat the count, to the joy of Crolla’s supporters.

“It’s been an absolute roller-coaster the last 12 months and this is the perfect finish,” Crolla told Sky Sports afterwards. “It’s a dream come true. I thought it would be a head-shot [that would finish the fight] but I’ll take that body-shot any day of the week.

“I remember sinking the left in downstairs and, like most people who land a good body-shot, I knew it was over there and then.”

- © AFP, 2015

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