diff --git a/eth/fetcher/tx_fetcher.go b/eth/fetcher/tx_fetcher.go
index f024f3aeba..78e791f32b 100644
--- a/eth/fetcher/tx_fetcher.go
+++ b/eth/fetcher/tx_fetcher.go
@@ -352,9 +352,9 @@ func (f *TxFetcher) Enqueue(peer string, txs []*types.Transaction, direct bool)
 		otherRejectMeter.Mark(otherreject)
 
 		// If 'other reject' is >25% of the deliveries in any batch, sleep a bit.
-		if otherreject > addTxsBatchSize/4 {
+		if otherreject > int64((len(batch)+3)/4) {
+			log.Debug("Peer delivering stale or invalid transactions", "peer", peer, "rejected", otherreject)
 			time.Sleep(200 * time.Millisecond)
-			log.Debug("Peer delivering stale transactions", "peer", peer, "rejected", otherreject)
 		}
 	}
 	select {