Rising to the occasion in his first title fight, Canadian boxer Steve Molitor shook off the ring rust on Friday to stop his British opponent in the fifth round.

With the win, the Sarnia, Ont., native claims the vacant International Boxing Federation junior featherweight title.

The unbeaten Molitor, 26, who hadn't fought in more than a year, started slowly but found the range in the fifth round, dropping Michael Hunter twice and forcing referee Phil Edwards to stop the bout in Hartlepool, England.

It was Molitor's third stoppage in a row, an impressive streak for the slick southpaw who had registered just six knockouts in his first 20 bouts.

"This means the world to me. I've been waiting for this for 17 years," Molitor said. "It took me a while to get into the fight tonight. I had a bit of ring rust. He surprised me the way he came out boxing."

Molitor, who turned pro after failing to qualify for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, had to bide his time waiting for a title shot this year. The wait was prolonged when a scheduled bout against Gabula Vabaza in Johannesburg in September was scrapped when Vabaza failed a pre-fight physical.

He also had to deal with turmoil outside the ring: His brother Jeremy, also a boxer, was sentenced in 2005 to life in prison with no chance of parole for 14 years for the murder of a former girlfriend.

Molitor now puts himself in line for bigger fights in the 122-pound division, stacked with exciting punchers such as Israel Vasquez, Daniel Ponce De Leon, Celestino Caballero and Jhonny Gonzalez.

Hunter fell to 26-1-1. "He caught me with a decent shot on the top of the head," he said. "I proved my worth, but [Molitor's] a world-class fighter."