Popular Stoke middleweight Nathan Heaney beat Bolton’s Jack Flatley after ten pulsating rounds at the Telford International Centre.
The bout saw the two face-off for a second time in six months after the former won via technical decision following a head clash-induced cut in September.
It was Heaney who started the faster of the two on the night, setting about Flatley in the first couple of rounds to stamp an early authority on the fight.
Flatley rode the early Heaney storm and grew into the fight as the middle rounds approached, but it was Heaney whose hand was raised in front of his rapturous travelling supporters at the conclusion of the ten rounds.
97-93 was the official scores returned by two of the judges ringside while the third found Heaney a wide 99-91 winner.
The victory marked the 33 year old’s 17th in as many outings while Flatley suffered his fourth defeat, moving to 20-3-1 as a professional.
Liverpool super-bantamweight Andrew Cain was handed his first defeat after a ten-round war with Romania’s Ionut Baluta.
The pair set an hellacious pace in an opening round which saw Cain score two early knockdowns against the Romanian.
The Liverpudlian set about Baluta in search of his tenth stoppage in eleven outings but Baluta showed a sturdy chin as he continued to absorb the ensuing punishment from Cain.
The fast pace continued throughout the entirety of the bout but a stubborn Baluta came back in the middle portion of the fight, enjoying some success of his own.
Balata’s greatest moment came in the ninth when a right hand floored Cain who had his back to the ropes, setting the contest up for an intriguing finish as the tenth round approached.
The pair continued to trade blows in the final round as they had done for the previous nine.
Most felt Cain’s fast start to the night would earn him the nod on the judge’s scorecards but it was the Romanian whose hand was raised by split-decision (96-91, 92-95, 93-94).
Elsewhere on the card, former British, Commonwealth and European super-bantamweight Jason Cunningham returned with a comfortable ten-rounds points victory over Miguel Gonzalez.
Top heavyweight prospect Moses Itauma also secured his second knockout win in as many outings as he blasted through Argentina’s Roman Ibarra inside 30 seconds.
Raven Chapman also floored Linda Lecca on the way to a wide unanimous decision victory over ten rounds at featherweight.
FULL CARD:
- Nathan Heaney UD R10 Jack Flatley – Middleweight
- Ionut Baluta SD R10 Andrew Cain – Super-Bantamweight
- Moses Itauma KO R1 Roman Ibarra – Heavyweight
- Jason Cunningham UD R10 Miguel Gonzalez – Super-Bantamweight
- Raven Chapman UD R10 Linda Lecca – Featherweight
- Brad Strand PTS R8 Kevin Trana – Super-Bantamweight
- Owen Cooper TKO R2 Eber Tobar – Welterweight
- Macauley Owen PTS R6 Christian Flores – Lightweight
- Natty Ngwenya PTS R4 Paweł Strykowski – Cruiserweight
- Ezra Taylor TKO R2 Ales Makovec – Light-Heavyweight
- Ben Fail TKO R6 Eligio Palacios – Super-Welterweight
- Jimmy Smith (debut) PTS R4 MJ Hall – Super-Welterweight
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