Jon-Lewis Dickinson delighted the locals at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle with a classy win over Stephen Simmons.

The cruiserweight from Birtley stopped the Scot in the eighth round of an entertaining scrap that saw the home hero win the WBC international silver title and bounce back after two staight losses.

Dickinson ended the fight with a clinical finish and admitted that had he not got past Simmons, it could well have ended his career.

"It was do or die," he told Sky Sports. "Obviously we knew he was a strong lad and he'd come forward and try and blast me out of there and if you look at my last two performances, he probably had a good chance.

"[Ovill] McKenzie took me out early and I was all over the place against Courtney Fry and I had problems. But we have got rid of those problems and I am a 100 percent."

Dickinson was rarely in trouble this time, although with Simmons shutting down the gap and landing several single shots, he had to remain at range and avoid being dragged into a brawl.

Dickinson came to the fore in the seventh round as he landed clean counters and ended the round clearly on top and closing in on a vital win.

He then smashed a straight right home at the start of the eighth and that was the beginning of the end for Simmons, another right and a big left sending him to the floor and although he made it back up, his balance had gone, leaving referee Ian-John Lewis to call it to a halt.