Monday 7 March 2016 10:19, UK
Bradley Skeete walked out of Birmingham with the British and Commonwealth welterweight belts after out-pointing Sam Eggington.
South Londoner Skeete controlled most of an intriguing and engaging 12 rounds and ultimately silenced the Genting Arena crowd there to support 'The Savage' from Stourbridge.
Eggington tried to fight back in the final third but by the time the final bell sounded, it would have been a huge upset had he kept hold of the titles.
Scores of 117-112, 116-113 and 115-113 saw Skeete pick up the titles at the second attempt.
The fight was expected to be a boxer against a puncher, a slickster against a slugger and it did not disappoint.
The tone was set in the first round, Skeete pinging in his jab then shifting round to his left, trying to keep Eggington chasing, and he did not catch him too many times.
The Savage's best shot came with a right to the body in the second and then a short uppercut in the third but round-by-round Skeete seemed to land more and more jabs and slowly but surely let the right follow.
The fourth might have been Eggington's best round but with coach Alan Smith calmly cajoling Skeete back into the gameplan, the jab returned twice as fast and fearsome than before.
Round five saw Skeete land a lovely left-right combination early on and for the first time it seemed he had taken something out of Eggington.
Indeed, the seventh saw Skeete drop his guard, leaving out the chin and almost playing with his opponent, firing single jabs and then slipping out of range.
When Eggington did manage to close the gap, he was often caught by the counter, although the ninth was certainly his best round of the second half.
His jab finally landed and was followed up by a big right hook that seemed to halt Skeete's slipping and sliding.
Eggington followed it up in the 10th as he continued to close the gap and land that right. Some still missed but his crude but continuous checked hook hit home more frequently.
But the feeling was that the British and Commonwealth straps would be heading to South London.
The final round saw Eggington give it his all but an extra spurt of energy from Skeete saw him end even stronger and secure an emotional win.
Skeete promised he would be taking the belts to have a chat with the late Dean Powell on Sunday.
This is dedicated to Dean Powell and I can't wait to go to his bench in Greenwich and plonk these on there
"It means the world to me to get these belts," he said. "I thought I did enough to win against [Frankie] Gavin but that experience took me through to this fight. Sam had a great crowd, I had a great crowd and it was a great, great fight.
"I had Sam on my mind for 10 weeks. I knew how tough he is. People said it's the boxer against the brawler but I knew Sam could box and I showed I can fight as well. Respect to Sam.
"I got to the seventh, dropped my hands and just started enjoying it. I knew from then it was my fight. It felt like I took it out of him but I had in my head not to switch off.
"This is dedicated to Dean Powell and I can't wait to go to his bench in Greenwich and plonk these on there."
