By Elliot Foster

Martin J Ward came of age tonight with a victory in a tough learning fight.

Ward, who moved to 14-0 (7), outpointed Spain’s Ruddy Encarnacion to keep hold of his crown on the undercard of Josh Warrington’s WBC International featherweight title defence against Hisashi Amagasa of Japan.

It was a one-sided display from beginning to end in favour of the home fighter, with the 24-year-old getting the better of his counterpart, 37, on all three judges’ scorecards by margins of 99-91, 100-91 and 98-92.

The performance was punch-perfect from the man who many raved about when he turned over to the paid ranks four years ago, but he was forced to box to orders in the latter stages against his experienced opponent after suffering a cut to the forehead in round seven.

Encarnacion, who slipped to 36-25-4 (18 KOs,) was awkward throughout the whole fight but his age and experience caught up with him and the way he was outclassed showed just how good Ward is potential-wise.

From there –– and after a spectacular performance by his cutsman –– Ward got the decision and it has been confirmed that he is in the mandatory position for the British title and is next in line for that title against the winner of holder Liam Walsh and challenger Troy James, who meet on April 30 at London’s Copper Box Arena,

And earlier in the card, Darren Tetley (11-0, 5 KOs) beat Casey Blair (3-8) on points over six rounds, while Daryl Baptist (6-2, 1 KO) was stopped in the opener in something of an upset.

The Lincoln man, who had an eliminator for the English super welterweight title against Adam Harper in the pipeline, was on the wrong end of his clash with Adam Jones (6-14-4, 1 KO), with the fight being waved off in the fifth round following two successive knockdowns

Elsewhere, Reece Mould made a successful start to his professional career with a first round stoppage victory over Phil Hervey at featherweight.