By Elliot Foster

Echo Arena, Liverpool - Sean Dodd remains a champion after being handed a controversial split-decision victory.

The Birkenhead lightweight looked to have had his Cinderella story ended by very good Belgian Francesco Patera, 23, exclusively live on Sky Sports, and it seemed he had succumbed his WBC International belt in the process, exclusively live on Sky Sports, as part of the undercard to Tony Bellew’s first WBC cruiserweight title defence against colourful Californian BJ Flores.

But the 32-year-old lives to fight another day as a champion following three contentious scorecards which were handed in by the ringside judges.

The fight began with Patera on the front foot and the pattern remained similar throughout, with Dodd seemingly needing a stoppage to win after around five rounds.

However, he managed to turn it round down the stretch, closing up the gaps and making it his type of fight after he realised there was no way he would win in a boxing match against his skilful counterpart, who slips to 16-2 with seven early, and was announced the victor by master of ceremonies John McDonald after scorecards of 96-95 to Patera and the pair which secured the decision of 96-94 twice.

Dodd is now 12-2-1 (2 KOs) and the fairy tale rolls on.

IN OTHER ACTION

Mairis Briedis outlined his credentials as the mandatory challenger to Tony Bellew.

The Latvian, who currently holds the WBC Silver cruiserweight title, ousted Simon Valilly, the previously undefeated prospect, in the third round.

Their clash was set for eight rounds at the ECHO Arena, exclusively live on Sky Sports, as part of the undercard to the aforementioned Bellew’s first defence of the WBC belt against colourful Californian BJ Flores.

Both went at it from the opening bell, with Briedis having the upper hand in the opener.

It was then nearly chaos as the pair had to be split following a spat after the bell.

But the end came in the third round when valiant Valilly was backed up against the ropes to the left side of the ring where the more experienced fighter, who is now 21-0 (18 KOs), teed off with powerful left hooks, one of which dropped the 31-year-old Middlesbrough man (now 9-1, 2 KOs) a round earlier, before the referee stepped in after two minutes and 36 seconds.

Meanwhile, Rocky Fielding returned with a stoppage.

The 29-year-old super-middleweight got rid of Istvan Zeller inside two rounds, with a knockdown in each stanza, before the referee stepped in after 44 seconds of that round.

Fielding is now 23-1 with 13 early endings, while Zeller slipped to 33-13 (10 KOs).

His stablemate, Craig Glover, who is managed by Bellew, went to points for the second time, scoring a 40-36 victory over the ever-durable Rolandas Cesna of Lithuania.

Ged Carroll was handed a razor-thin decision against Irvin Magno, who has now slipped to 0-2-1.

‘The G-Man’ is now undefeated in three outings as a pro and was involved in a cracking four-round clash against a man, who is known as ‘Filipino Tank’, who is much better than his record suggests.

The third man in the ring, Steve Gray, scored it 39-38.

And Paul Economides earned a 60-54 points win over Elvis Guillen in his first fight since his appearance at Everton Football Club’s Goodison Park back in May.