BOLTON boxer Jack Cullen suffered the third and most devastating defeat of his career after he was stopped by Kevin Lelo Sadjo in their fight for the vacant European super-middleweight title.

Sadjo, who was called in as a late replacement, produced a single left hook to the body to claim the title stopped Cullen in the sixth round in Manchester.

The Little Lever Meat Cleaver was brimming with confidence ahead of the contest after an impressive unanimous points victory last time out in July, when he won the vacant International Boxing Federation (IBF) International Super Middleweight title against Avni Yildirim.

He went in to the fight - on the undercard of the Joseph Parker’s rematch with Derek Chisora - having lost just two of his 23 professional bouts and was backed by huge home town support in Manchester with a round 1,000 fans from Little Lever provided a noisy vocal backing.

And the early signs were promising as the 28-year started brightly against the Frenchman, three years his senior, setting a furious pace as he tried to keep the shorter Sadjo out of arms reach.

Sadjo who came in at short notice to replace Gustave Tamba, meant a change that gave Cullen a dramatically different fight.

And ultimately the experienced Frenchman took advantage as he looked more and more dangerous the longer the fight went as he got Cullen in his range.

The Frenchman seemed to favour the overhand right, which he landed several times in the earlier rounds but the finisher was a sickening left to the body halfway through the contest.

As Cullen looked to get Sadjo in a clinch in the middle of the ring, the Frenchman landed his shot. Cullen immediately spun round in pain and took a knee. He beat the count, pulling out his gumshield before he rose.

But referee John Latham waved the fight off 1 minutes 11 seconds in to the round, a decision that was instantly justified as Cullen sank back to the canvas and lay there for several minutes.