PHILLIP Ndou kept his dream alive of perhaps being matched with Naseem Hamed by stopping Edgar Barcenas on the Lennox Lewis-Michael Grant under-card on Saturday night. Branco Milenkovic, Ndou’s trainer said after the fight at Madison Square Garden that Barecenas proved to be a very difficult opponent. The tough Mexican fighter managed to endure Ndou’s power punches for ten rounds, before retiring on his chair and not coming out for the eleventh. This was the first time Ndou had gone ten rounds and his stamina held up well. He struggled a little to fathom Barcenas awkward style, but still managed to post an impressive victory, thereby retaining his WBA International title for the second time. It’s expected that Ndou will now defend his title against his number one contender before trying for the lucrative bout against Hamed. An ideal location would be on Lennox Lewis’ next under-card, which has provisionally been set for London on July 15. Milenkovic has a promotional partnership deal with Lewis’ Promoter Panos Eliades, so this could easily be arranged. Although not yet officially confirmed it’s believed Lewis will be facing Frans Botha in the main event. Former IBF Bantamweight world champion Mbulilo Botile will be challenging the other winner on Saturday’s bill, Paul Ingle — who stopped Junior Jones in the eleventh round, for his IBF featherweight title, also on or before July 15. — Deon Potgieter