UNBEATEN David Starie surprised Ireland's Sam Storey last night with victory in the seventh round to take the vacant British middleweight championship at York Hall, Bethnal Green.

Starie outclassed the former champion and ended the one-sided contest with a short right to the body. Storey was up at eight, but referee John Keane called it off with 43 seconds of the round remaining.

Starie, 22, who extended his professional record to 14 straight wins, never looked in danger and was ahead by five rounds to one when the end came. His tight fighting style proved too much for southpaw Storey. The punch count summed it up: Starie threw 310 punches to Storey's 177.