Tuesday 21 April 2015 12:23, UK
Liverpool's Derry Mathews won the Interim WBA lightweight title after a hard-fought unanimous points decision over Canadian David 'Lightning' Luis.
Two of the judges scored the fight 114-112 in favour of the hometown favourite with the other chalking up a 115-112 victory for Mathews at a partisan Echo Arena.
Mathews saw Cuba's Richar Abril twice pull out of a fight due to illness to be stripped of the belt and just this week replacement Venezuelan Ismael Barroso was forced to withdraw after failing to obtain a visa.
The Englishman shook off his interrupted preparations in two keenly-contested opening rounds with both men on the offensive before Luis looked to be gaining a foothold in the fight in an impressive round three.
The pair experienced the ire of the referee for the first time when holding on to each in round four before the boxers exchanged decent blows in the fifth ahead of the Canadian again being warned for a stray elbow.
Some decent Derry uppercuts had given Luis plenty to concern him but the visitor was able to produce some decent boxing on the back foot in an untidy round five.
Luis's onslaught in the next was dealt with cleverly by Derry, but a good left hand with less than a minute left in the round forced the Liverpudlian to cover up in search of the bell.
It was Mathews' turn for a warning in round seven after a low blow, with Luis also reprimanded for an angry swipe after the boxers were broken up.
A point was deducted from the Englishman's score in round eight for another low blow before a crunching right hander rocked the granite chin of Luis. It was then the Canadian's turn to lose a point for illegal use of his head in the same round.
Luis came out firing in the ninth and Mathews also survived a 30-second barrage in the next before getting on top towards the end as the visitor tired.
The Englishman fought well off the ropes in the penultimate round, getting in the cleaner shots as both men began to visibly tire, and was able to protected his advantage as Luis experienced a 12th round for the first time in a 19-2 career.
Mathews celebrated at the end of his 49th professional fight thinking he had done more than enough for the decision and said: "It was a hell of a fight. He's a warrior. He's a tough, tough man. I'm interim champion of the world."
Earlier in the night, fellow Liverpudlian Liam Smith impressively dismantled durable WBO Latino welterweight champion David Romero inside seven rounds to claim the vacant WBO Inter-Continental light-middleweight title.
After a tight opening round, Smith landed some big uppercuts in the second before flooring Romero in the next.
'Beefy' found encouragement to the body in the fourth round before a searing left uppercut into the jaw sent the Argentine down for a second time.
Romero was floored again in the sixth round before some savage left hooks to the body and heavy uppercuts ended it for a perfect 20th professional win for Smith.
