By Elliot Foster
Martin J Ward retained his titles with a points decision against Maxi Hughes.
The pair, who had clashed twice previously, went toe-to-toe again at the Manchester Arena, exclusively live on Sky Sports.
Ward, with the victory, retained his WBC International and British super-featherweight titles, as part of the undercard to Jorge Linares’ world lightweight title rematch against Anthony Crolla.
Hughes started well, nullifying the edge and better boxing that Ward is known for, but he faded down the stretch and was on the wrong end of a decision from the three ringside judges, who scored the fight 116-112, 118-111 and 116-113 in favour of ‘Wardy’.
In defeat, Hughes slips to 16-3-2 with two early.
Ward now must face his mandatory in the shape of Anthony Cacace within 90 days and will go into the fight, should it happen, having added another victory to his ledger, moving to 17-0-2 (8 KOs).
Meanwhile, former British light-heavyweight champion Hosea Burton got back to winning ways.
‘The Hammer’ dropped his man, Tomas Kozma, in the third round but the fight went the distance, with Joe Gallagher-trained Burton –– who was stopped inside the final of 12 rounds by Frank Buglioni at the same arena back in December –– being awarded the decision by 80 points to 71.
Earlier in the card, middleweight Ben Sheedy moved to 6-0 after overcoming a nasty cut. He outpointed Rob Brown over six rounds, while there was a win for Nathan Wheatley in a quiet four-rounder against Chris Jenkinson.
And Sean McGoldrick made a successful start to his paid career.
The former Commonwealth Games gold medallist outpointed the very durable Brett Fidoe over four rounds.
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