Boxing: Frenchman is blown away all too easily by DeGale

Scottish fight fans last night had their first close-up look at James DeGale MBE, the 2008 Olympic gold medallist who has turned professional to great effect and won the British super-middleweight championship in his ninth paid contest, stopping Paul Smith of Liverpool in nine rounds in December.

On the Braehead undercard, in what was really just a warm-up for next month's all-London battle against Commonwealth champion George Groves, DeGale outclassed Frenchman Alpay Kobal.

Referee Vic Loughlin allowed DeGale to beat up the brave but ineffectual Kobal before stepping in to stop the action after one minute and 37 seconds of round five of what was frankly not a good enough contest to have been chief supporting bout.

The Scottish boxers on the undercard all had pleasing wins, with cruiserweight Stephen Simmons from Edinburgh making a highly satisfactory professional debut in stopping London's Nick 'The Ox' Okoth inside two rounds.

Simmons, the 2010 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist at heavyweight, revelled in being able to fire off more body shots than an amateur would throw in a year. Okoth had no answer to the Scotsman's power and accuracy once he started to land cleanly and referee Kenny Pringle called it off at one minute and 36 seconds of round two.

The new pro fighter was pleased with his start: "It is good to get the first one out of the road, and I was delighted with a stoppage win. I was enjoying throwing the body shots and should have thrown more, but it's a good start."

Paul Appleby, the former British featherweight champion from South Queensferry who suffered a shock loss to Joseph Laryea in his last contest, won every round of six in a super-featherweight bout against tricky Syrian-born Yorkshireman Youssef Al Hamidi.

It was a clear confidence booster for Appleby, who is fully recovered from his carpal inflammation hand injury. He said: "I am happy with that, and hopefully I can look at getting a title fight again soon."

Young light-middleweight prospect Jon Thain from Edinburgh continued his learning curve by beating Halesowen journeyman Kevin McCauley for the second time, this time by four rounds to nil.

"I beat him in my debut fight last March and that shows that I have improved a lot in a year," said Thain, who is unbeaten after four fights. "It's all down to the men in my corner and I want to thank them."