George Liddard delivered a career-best showing to be crowned Britain's youngest-ever middleweight champion with a 10th-round stoppage win over Kieron Conway at York Hall.

After months of tension and a heated build-up between them, Liddard (13-0, 8 KOs) was sharp from the off and made good on his promise in becoming the first man to stop Conway (23-4-1, 7 KOs) though there was plenty of mutual respect between them afterwards.

Conway, 29, was clearly compromised with a left hand and right shoulder injury in the final frames of a fight painfully escaping him as time wore on.

Billericay's Liddard, 23, achieves the British title triumph two years younger than the last man to do so, Nick Blackwell against his stablemate and cornerman John Ryder in 2015.

"I didn't want to win that way," Liddard accepted in his post-fight interview, thanking Tony Sims for turning him into an experienced pro and one that, 13 fights deep, is now a British champion after continuing to defy critics who suggested this step-up was too early.

Next month, Bilal Jkitou-Diego Natchoo will contest the European title vacated by Denzel Bentley and naturally, he'll want to make another move in that direction. There's no going back once you reach this juncture, so with some timely matchmaking, 2026 is even brighter.

"I'll see what the team say, people thought it was too early but Tony and the team see what I do, they wouldn't put me in if they didn't think I stood a chance," he added before reaffirming his desire to one day headline a Matchroom bill at the London Stadium, home to his beloved West Ham Football Club. Two show headliners in ten months isn't bad going.

Liddard held centre ring early, dictating behind his jab and pepper Conway's high guard. He connected on a beautiful combo in the final half-minute of a first round that flew by, Conway unable to stop the younger man from taking charge. That pattern continued throughout.

Liddard's jab did plenty, Conway firing back with an uppercut and right hand combination at close-range, though the champion's right eye was already sporting noticeable damage through two rounds and would only worsen if he couldn't fire back enough to keep Liddard thinking. That was a task much easier said than done against a fresher, hungry foe.

Conway's nose was bloodied and he looked jaded when walking back to his corner, unable to find an early rhythm and having to finish rounds stronger after letting the sharper Liddard tee off on him.

"I'm three up," came the ask from Liddard in his corner as head trainer Tony Sims told him that he's not even needing to expend much energy to impose himself. Conway landed a pair of left hooks and a one-two combo in the fourth as he finally began to have more success, though Liddard still dug downstairs in the pocket and was still outworking the older man.

Conway's corner felt Liddard's power was slowly diminishing through five rounds, though that observation seemed like more wishful thinking than anything: by contrast, the challenger's corner were delighted with his jab dictating proceedings.

Liddard's head movement and foot placement allowed him to take breaks when he wanted, widening the distance between them and choosing moments to fire forward.

Conway finally caught him with a left hand in the final half-minute but whenever a firefight threatened to break out at close quarters, Liddard wisely stepped back or nullified the work.

Cut under the right eye and being more reactive than purposeful with his punch output, Conway fared better in round eight but every time he threw first, Liddard would fire back a crowd-pleasing shot as you could sense the champion's resolve starting to waver.

Right on cue then, Conway winced in the corner before round nine. The cut below his eye was now dripping with blood once more after microphones caught him saying he couldn't make a fist -- suggesting a left hand injury of some sort -- the last thing he needed.

Clearly compromised by this stage, Conway couldn't help wincing moments before Liddard floored him with a forward flurry as they came together near the ropes in the ninth.

The end officially came at 0:49 of the tenth, Conway's corner sharply went from encouraging their man to withstand a barrage and avoid being stopped for the first time - while increasingly defenceless - to reluctantly accepting their fate, throwing the towel in.