IT was a hugely impressive display from Colm Murphy at the Europa Hotel on Saturday night as South Belfast's 'Posh Boy' handed Sam Melville his first stoppage loss in the fifth round of their super-featherweight clash.
Murphy won plenty of praise for his debut performance last September, but was better again as he gradually settled and broke the Englishman down with body shots, dropping him in the fifth and then following up with heavy fire to prompt referee Hugh Russell Jnr to step in with 1.44 gone in the round.
Stoppage victories are not easy to come by against such tough opposition, but Murphy first of all removed any ambition the Stockport fighter had with a big third round and then kept his foot on the gas and set a pace Melville couldn't live with as he thudded in heavy fire to put an exclamation point on what was another eye-catching display from the 22-year-old.
"I didn't think my debut could be bettered, but here I've just had the best night of my life," he said.
"I can't believe that. I know I was hitting hard and was always a good bodyshotter, but he just dropped.
"The way I'm going, I'm going to be a problem soon - I'm coming for it all."
Melville takes a count after being dropped in the fifth 
Murphy did take a while to settle down as he initially seemed a little eager to find the big shots, but began working off his jab a little better to set up his attacks and while he was forced to take some right hands, walked through what Melville had to offer.
In the second, Murphy connected with a beauty of a lead left and was now working the body well. Melville was still well in play, fighting back with the right, but a lovely right over the top of the guard from Murphy at the end of the round cemented his dominance.
He then went through the gears in the third, picking his shots well as he varied from body to head and was starting to trouble the visitor who was now beginning to look like a man content to survive as he was being picked apart and it all came to a head in the fifth when Murphy backed the visitor on the ropes and forced him to drop with a body shot.
Melville did make it to his feet, but the attacks were now relentless as Murphy pressed on and targeted downstairs with the visitor doing everything he could to spoil and smother, but just couldn't keep Muphy off him who had him cornered and began teeing off with the left hand through the middle rocking the head back and prompting Russell to wave it off.
"I hope I showed a new version of myself," said Murphy.
"My last fight was September and I'd only been with Dee (Walsh, coach) for two months before that. I'm giving him all credit for that performance - that's Irish boxing's best coach of the year's performance.
"I wasn't even sparring for this fight as I had a kidney injury from body sparring, but I still knew it wouldn't be a problem because I'm fit as f**k and I went and showed it."
Murphy with his team after 
The plan will be to get back into the ring as soon as possible and build momentum.
It was a longer than hoped for gap between this victory and his debut, but it afforded Murphy to continue to transition to the pro style under the guidance of Walsh.
Saturday's opposition was very solid for a second fight and that makes the outcome all the more impressive, so the ambitious all-action Belfast man believes that doors will begin to open sooner rather than later with an exciting 2022 ahead.
"There are no back steps now, we're moving on," he insists.
"We built off my pro debut and while we weren't fighting, we were still training and now Mark (Dunlop, manager) is going to deliver as there are big options I'm really looking forward to.
"You see some pros fighting people who are dropping after a round. Mark is getting me the right fights to build me up and fights that are competitive and a challenge. That guy was there to win but I just didn't give him an opportunity."
