• Tyson Fury v Christian Hammer

Fury targets Klitschko after stopping Hammer

Tyson Fury improves to 24-0 © PA Photos

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Tyson Fury moved closer to a shot at Wladimir Klitschko's WBO title with Christian Hammer's corner throwing in the towel after the eighth round at the O2 Arena.

Fury outclassed his opponent, who was No.3 in the WBO heavyweight rankings, during a dull affair in London and immediately called out Klitschko.

"I'm here to entertain," Fury told BoxNation at ringside. "I came here to box a very worthy opponent who was very tough.

"He took a lot of punishment and his corner knew they had to pull him out. I was going through the motions, really. It was a bit of flair and tear.

"I have come a long, long way in the last three or four years. I went back to basic for this fight, and I'm a much improved fighter. And that's why I'm ready for Klitschko next."

Fury was on the front foot from the off and got his feet going in an energetic first round, switching to southpaw before getting some shots in.

The Englishman, who at 6 ft 9 in had a seven-inch height advantage over Hammer, began to dominate in the second round and reverted back to southpaw from his usual orthodox stance, firing in some right-hand jabs.

He remained southpaw with Hammer missing with some big looping rights and Fury landing some clean hits towards the end of the third round.

Fury was swapping and changing, reverting to orthodox in the fourth as his opponent kept coming forward but the 27-year-old was down in the fifth with a minute to go - soaking up the shots to see out a tough round.

The Briton remained in control in the sixth as Hammer threw out some big, inaccurate shots, while Fury continued to pepper the blows in the seventh with Hammer still taking it well.

The eighth saw some more southpaw from Fury before reverting back to orthodox and he connected with a big uppercut before the towel was thrown in from Hammer's corner, handing a dominant victory to the man from Wythenshawe.

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