Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle - For the vacant EBU lightweight title, Francesco Patera (20-3, 7 KOs) shocks previously undefeated Lewis Ritson (17-1, 11 KOs) with a twelve round split decision win.
The scores were 116-112 for Ritson, 116-112 for Patera and 116-112 for Patera.
The loss was a big setback for Riston - who was already being pushed by his promoter, Eddie Hearn, as a future superstar in the sport.
For his part, Patera reclaims the EBU title after losing the belt to Edis Tatli in their rematch in December of last year. Patera won their first meeting back in May of the same year.
Ritson started the contest by pushing forward from the early going, with his high activity, aggressive nature - forcing Patera to fight on the inside. In the second, he often backed Patera to the ropes and continued to hammer the body.
The pace of the fight continued in the same manner, with a test of wills between two game fighters. Patera was getting in his own good shots along the way and testing the resolve of Ritson as they often traded hard punches at close range. Patera fought back hard and was taking several close rounds.
Ritson was badly hurt to the body in the fifth and appeared to slow down in the second half.
Also on the card, Joshua Buatsi (8-0, 6 KOs) retained the WBA International light heavyweight title with a first round knockout of Tony Averlant.
The win was very impressive - considering Averlant went seven rounds in his last bout in February, when he was stopped by Anthony Yarde.
