M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool - Olympic bronze medal winner David Price (24-6, 19 KOs) defeated unbeaten Kash Ali (15-1, 7 KOs) by way of a fifth round disqualification.
Last year, Price lost two of his three ring appearances. He was stopped by Alexander Povetkin and Sergey Kuzmin, but stopped Tom Little to close out the year in December.
Coming into this fight, Ali stopped four opponents in a row.
Price started off his with jab, pecking away and using his reach and height advantages on Ali. There wasn't difference in the second, except Ali threw a flurry of punches in the closing seconds.
Price was backing up Ali at the start of the third, using the jab to work his way in and followed that up with harder shots - which forced Ali told hold. Ali's nose was busted open from the jab of Price. Price was growing in confidence, but taking his time with good right hands and shots to the body. Ali lost a point for repeated punches to the back of the head.
Both were swinging with shots at the start of the fourth. Price rattled Ali with several punches against the ropes. Price continued to use his jab to control the round.
Ali started making things rough in the fifth round and was letting his hands go on Price, who appeared to be very tired. But then Ali was rocked by a hard shot and he grabbed Price for dear life and tackled him to the floor in hard fashion. The referee stopped the fight as Ali bit Price on his lower torso when he tackled him down. When it was quite visible that Price had a bite mark on his lower torse, Ali was quickly disqualified.
When Ali left the ring, he was pelted with objects by the crowd and he then began to mix it up with some of the Liverpool fans.