THAI fighter Lee Johnson was a winner at a sanctioned event at the Tower Ballroom in Birmingham, in front of more than 700 dinner guests.

The 29-year-old bantamweight from Hawkwell took on the pro fight against Adrian Maguire at less than a week's notice. Maguire is ranked number five in the UK.

Lee said: "Maguire is a cocky, confidence fighter so I kept him on the back foot."

Lee fired in some hard punches to hurt his opponent early on, then followed up with some powerful body kicks.

He forced a standing count with a left hook to the jaw, then dropped Maguire to the canvas in the second round with another body kick.

Maguire showed great heart, bravely getting back to his feet, but a huge kick to the ribs sent him crashing back to the floor. This time, he was unable to beat the count to 10.

Lee added: "My coach Tony Myers and myself took the fight because we knew I was fit and hadn't put on much weight since my last fight.

"It was a hard test and only my third pro fight, so I was giving away plenty of experience.

"The atmosphere was electric and it was a big scalp for me."

The sport of Muay Thai is widely regarded as the most destructive but technical fighting discipline in the world.

Boxers wear gloves (as in Western boxing), but also fight with other unpadded parts of the body.

Lee took up the sport after seeing it on TV – originally joining a gym in Gloucester, then progressing to work with one of the world's best Muay Thai authorities, Tony Myers, at his Pra Chao Suua gym in Staffordshire.

He now commutes to Staffordshire three nights a week for training.

Lee says his ambition is to break into the UK's top five.

He made his pro debut earlier this year at the Singwanchai Arena in Bangkok, beating fellow Westerner Ali McConie.