Brian Rose came through a gruelling contest to gain a split decision over Argentina's Javier Maciel in their WBO light-middleweight eliminator in Sheffield. It was a fight of contrasting styles with the wild Maciel providing most of the aggression, but Rose offering much the more accurate and considered work despite being on the back foot for long spells. In the end he was given the nod with Maciel getting a 115-113 verdict from one judge, but the Englishman was awarded it 117-111 by another and then 116-113 on the third and final card.

The victory earns Rose a crack at the winner of the fight between Vanes Martirosyan and Dmetrius Andrade who meet next month for the vacant WBO light-middleweight title in Texas.

A delighted Rose told Sky Sports afterwards: "I'm usually a pretty cool character, but I wasn't cool when I got that decision - I burst into tears. I found it really hard at times - there were times when I had to dig deep. I've never had to do that before

"You still haven't seen the best of me, as I go up in levels the better I get. I'm happy with that performance, I'm more than happy. I'm over the moon.

"I was a bit unsure, I thought I'd done enough, I thought I was up by three or four rounds.

Rose's promoter Eddie Hearn added: "I thought that was a great performance. Maciel was the favourite going into the fight. I thought it was close, but he showed the heart of a lion."