AS soon as Robert 'Gummy' Toomey landed the blow, he knew the fight was over.
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It came in the fifth round of his Australian lightweight title fight against Anthony Brownlie and for the man known as 'Bad News' it left him reeling and unable to continue.
A solid left-hand shot to the body was the full stop on a fight Toomey dominated from start to finish, despite Brownlie looking busy in the early stages.
In their previous bout, Toomey took the victory on points at the end of 10 tough rounds but this time there was no need for the judges.
"He threw a lot of punches early but I just stayed out of the way of them and worked my way into the fight," Toomey said.
"After that I was able to work in and get into my rhythm and I knocked him down in the third, went back to my gameplan of fighting smart through the fourth and then poured the pressure on in the fifth when I stopped it.
"I knew I had him wobbly and I was in front so I couldn't be reckless there in the fourth round but come the fifth round I went for the body and as soon as I hit him it just gave me the feel of a shot that he wasn't going to get up from."
Keen to make the most of his chance to regain the belt in front of his home crowd, Toomey increased his training program from eight weeks to 10 weeks and had a new trainer and cornermen to help him through the fight.
The result was there for everyone to see as Toomey, who weighed in at 60.6kg on Thursday night but fought about 8kg heavier, looked fast, strong and a more complete fighter than the last time he took on Brownlie.
Doubling up as the promoter of the event through his company Pound For Pound Boxing, he said he was delighted with the response of the Dubbo public, with about 700 people packing into the Amaroo Hotel's nightclub area for the event.
"We had a lot of good fights matched on the night and they seemed to play out that way," Toomey said.
"A couple of the best fights on the night involved some girls from Dubbo. Briarne Luckie gave her opponent 9kg but still took the fight and even though she got beat she did a great job, and Ayla Barker's fight against Jess Webb from Narrabri was a ripper as well."
Pound For Pound's next event is likely to be held in June or July of this year, with the opportunity of Toomey fighting for a regional title on that card.
