Video: Sheffield boxer injured in the ring at Rotherham tonight... UNCOMFORTABLE VIEWING

Jayce Dixon, aged 35, had taken the super welterweight Central Area title fight at the Magna Centre Rotherham with just three weeks notice.

He was down on the canvas twice, at the hands of fellow Sheffield fighter Anthony Tomlinson, 27, in the first round.

In the second, he needed the ropes to keep him up, as he was given another count.

A golf-ball sized bruise appeared below his left eye in the third and he seemed to be stumbling across the canvas - twice claiming he'd been hit at the back of the head.

In the fourth, he was knocked flat on his back, his head slightly raised.

The referee quickly took Dixon's gum-shield out, and paramedics gave him oxygen.

The Reagan Denton-trained athlete was then taken out of the arena on a stretcher.

Tomlinson quietened down fans who were celebrating his win, in respect for his stricken opponent.

Family man Dixon had agreed to take the fight as a late replacement for Kyle Fox, from Hatfield, Doncaster.

There are suggestions he took the fight despite tearing a calf muscle a day or so ago.

Interviewed by The Star on Thursday, Dixon said he expected to win the title and was looking forward to the challenge.

The show was jointly promoted by Stefy Bull and Ryan Rhodes, who at Friday's weigh-in had both applauded Dixon for taking the fight at short notice.

Later, ring announcer Phil Seymour tweeted: "Heavy knockout, but Dixon seemed ok after. "

And sources suggested he was allowed home from hospitals in the early hours of Saturday.