Tommy Coyle looked refreshed after a 14-month break as he overwhelmed Sean Dodd in the sixth round to become Commonwealth lightweight champion on Saturday on the Amir Khan-Phil Lo Greco undercard at Liverpool's Echo Arena.
After defeats to Tyrone Nurse and Luke Campbell, Coyle needed a boost and got it after delivering a sharp performance despite the layoff.
Coyle floored Dodd in the fourth and sixth rounds before referee Bob Williams stopped the fight, and afterward, he revealed he almost quit in January.
"I nearly walked away from boxing after my last fight, I spent some time in hospital after my last fight even though I won," Coyle said.
"But I thought, 'Let's have one more roll of the dice,' and I'm here as a new champion."
Coyle would not confirm if he will continue boxing and face British champion Lewis Ritson.
Dodd (15-3-1, 3 KOs), 33, was making a second defense of the Commonwealth title after impressively beating Thomas Stalker in September. But Coyle (24-4, 12 KOs) took control in the third round, when he shook Dodd with a right to the temple.
Dodd was lucky to survive the fourth round after his knees were buckled by an overhand right and was then floored by a follow-up left.
It was late in the round, and Dodd was grateful for the bell, but Coyle continued to look good in the fifth.
Coyle, who is from Hull, like 2012 Olympic gold medalist Campbell, got better as the fight went on and in the sixth decked Dodd again with a right.
Dodd got up but Coyle launched a relentless attack to force the stoppage as Dodd's corner threw the towel in.
Benn scores TKO in win
English welterweight prospect Conor Benn improved his record to 12-0 with a fourth-round win over Chris Truman.
"I worked on a few things, and I hope it [showed]," said Benn. "I know myself, I learned a lot, but I rushed it a bit."
Benn, 21, is an entertaining fighter who came close to losing his previous fight when Cedrick Peynaud dropped him in the first round. The England-born boxer, who was raised in Australia, prevailed on points and boxed smarter early on against Truman.
Benn -- son of former world middleweight and super-middleweight champion Nigel -- finished Truman with a right uppercut in the fourth round and afterward said he wants a rematch with Peynaud.
Fowler wins, calls for bigger fights
Junior middleweight prospect Anthony Fowler, back in action less than a month after his last fight, called for harder tests after a second-round win improved his record to 6-0, 5 KOs in front of his home city fans in Liverpool.
Fowler's power was too much for Ryan Toms, who was dropped by a right to the body and never recovered.
One future opponent for Fowler could be English rival Sam Eggington, who made his junior middleweight debut before Fowler's bout.
Eggington (22-4, 14 KOs), a former British and European welterweight champion, enjoyed a confidence-boosting second round stoppage win over Hungary's Achilles Szabo.
Eggington, who lost the European welterweight title to Mohamed Mimoune in his last fight in October, forced two knockdowns before the stoppage.
Jonas stays unbeaten with TKO win
Liverpool's 2012 Olympian Natasha Jonas moved to 6-0 (5 KOs) after a classy seventh-round stoppage win over France's Taoussy L'Hadji (5-6-1, 0 KOs).
L'Hadji's legs turned to jelly after a vicious right from Jonas and the Frenchwoman tumbled over moments later. When she got up, the fight was waved off, perhaps prematurely, but Jonas dominated and she looks promising.
Afterward, there was talk about a future fight with WBA world lightweight champion Katie Taylor (8-0, 4 KOs), but Jonas wants to win a world title at super-featherweight first.
Jonas, who has a 2-year-old daughter, missed out on a medal at the 2012 Olympics after being outpointed 26-15 by Ireland's Taylor, the eventual gold-medal winner.