By Elliot Foster

Frank Buglioni made a successful second defence of the Lonsdale belt.

The Enfield light-heavyweight plodded through against late replacement Craig Richards at the Principality Stadium.

Buglioni, who was marked, bumped and bruised at the final bell, took some unnecessary shots against the former Southern Area super-middleweight king, who was up at 175lbs for the first time, on the undercard of Anthony Joshua’s bid to retain his IBF, WBA Super and IBO heavyweight world titles in Cardiff.

And once he had realised that Richards –– who boxed just last weekend in Belfast –– couldn’t hurt him with anything, he began to just walk forward and eventually took all the energy from his former sparring partner, who had success in the early stages after replacing Callum Johnson earlier in fight week.

The three scoring ringside judges had the fight in favour of the titlist, handing in comfortable tallies of 117-111 twice and a tighter one of 116-113.

“It came down to experience, I was just a little bit cuter,” Buglioni told Sky Sports afterwards. “He took massive right hands and stiff body shots so credit to him.”

It is now likely that Hosea Burton, who Buglioni vanquished last December to clinch the crown, will be installed as the mandatory challenger, but official word regarding that situation is expected by the British Boxing Board of Control in due course.

“If Hosea Burton wants it, he can come and get it,” Buglioni concluded.