Sunday 26 March 2017 06:26, UK
Marcus Morrison's unbeaten record was shattered by a surprise points defeat against Jason Welborn at the Manchester Arena.
An early knockdown failed to worry Welborn, who left Morrison with a badly damaged nose as his relentless pressure earned a unanimous points win with scores of 96-93 96-93 and 97-92.
The experienced Welborn tried to test the middleweight prospect's punch resistance from the first bell, briefly bullying Morrison to the ropes in the opening round.
Welborn resumed this early assault in the second, but marched into trouble when Morrison tagged him with a right hook which forced the Midlands man to take a knee.
But Welborn clambered up from the canvas and continued to trouble the 24-year-old with hurtful hooks, leaving Morrison with a worried expression and a bloodied nose.
A torrid night for Morrison worsened in the sixth as he was shaken by a barrage of punches and at times appeared to be on the brink of being stopped, with Welborn hammering in punches until the last bell.
Earlier in the evening, Martin J Ward successfully defended his super-featherweight title with a unanimous decision win over Maxi Hughes.
The Brentwood man was facing Hughes for the third time and brought an emphatic end to their trilogy by earning victory with scores of 116-112 118-111 and 116-113.
After a range-finding opening round, Hughes began to show more aggression and landed crisp left hands from his southpaw stance.
Stung into action, Ward introduced more spite into his work, and ripped an uppercut through the defences of Hughes in the sixth round.
Neither man wanted to give ground in a hard-fought contest, but Ward forced Hughes into reverse with another uppercut in the ninth, and continued his strong finish into the closing rounds.
