Bristol's hard-hitting Lee Haskins (27-3) successfully rebounded from losing his European title last night at the City Academy in Bristol by stopping Martin Ward (16-2) on his feet in the fifth round and securing a Lonsdale belt in a second weight division.

Lee, who was having his second attempt at this British Bantam strap, delivered a typically swaggering performance in front of a vocal hometown crowd. Boxing with his right low and in the southpaw stance, he had Ward troubled as early as the first as he cracked his man with spiteful looping right-left combinations.

Ward was lucky not to have a knockdown counted against him early in the second as he seemed to have only been kept up by the ropes after taking a leaping, springing combination from the ever-coiled west-country warrior.

Martin, who had only one prior loss on his ledger going in, fought with his hands too low and Haskins had turned his face into a bloody mess by the end of the round. Ward looked shell-shocked going back to his gob-smacked corner.

To Ward's credit, he kept himself together in the third. Lee was over eager in looking for the finish and loading up for every punch. Martin managed to come forward and score with clever jabs and straight rights. The visitor consolidated his mini-resurgence in the four in taking advantage of Lee's leaky defence and tendency to miss with big shots.

The end came in the fifth. Lee, who just seconds before seemed to be looking out into the crowd, caught Ward with a big left and then blitzed his man to the ropes with a double-handed furious attack. Ward seemed to have his gloves up but some were getting through. Romford's Mark Green stopped the fight when Martin's sense of direction deserted him. He was disorientated and facing towards the neutral corner as punches rained in.