Hopey Price punctuated his featherweight debut with a seventh-round stoppage of former British and Commonwealth title challenger James Beech Jr.

Price, still just 23, is now 11-0 (4) by virtue of this victory which came as a result of one of the most mature performances of his career to date.

The southpaw has designs on winning the British title within the next 12 months and knew Beech Jr, who was stopped in his challenge for the belt in seven rounds by Nathaniel Collins in March, was a decent yardstick for his progress.

And he matched what Collins did, forcing Beech Jr’s corner to instruct referee Kieran McCann to end the contest before the start of the eighth.

Beech had made a decent start and had a breakthrough moment in the second round. However, unflustered, Price did well to quell the the danger, using his height and reach to keep Beech on the end of his jab,

By the fourth, Price had really found his range and was judging the distance beautifully in order to make Beech miss before firing back on the counter. Beech appeared to be out of ideas already.

But he was back applying the pressure in the fifth, pushing hard to close the gap to Price before working away on the inside. Even so, it was Price who landed the best shot of the round, firing a straight left hand through the guard from his southpaw stance.

Price began to vary the back hand in the sixth, swiping it round the guard, driving it into the midriff and also bringing it up through the middle. Still Beech marched forward but he was landing even less by now and also had to deal with a cut on the left eye from an accidental clash of heads.

His face was a bloody mess as he sat down at the end of the seventh and with any hopes of upsetting Price clearly extinguished, his corner decided enough was enough.

Hot prospect Junaid Bostan came through his step-up fight against fellow undefeated fighter Ryan Amos unscathed but he had to work for it.

The 21-year-old is considered one of the most exciting talents in the country after racing to 5-0 as a professional with all inside the distance.

That knockout streak was ended here by teak-tough Amos, who landed some shots of his own, but Bostan won 79-73 on Kieran McCann’s card.

Bostan said: “Ability-wise and power-wise he wasn’t in my league. But he was a tough man. You can’t get them all out of there.

“When Dalton [Smith] has done his thing I will be bringing more big nights here to Sheffield. I’m never satisfied with my victories, give me a week off and I’ll be back in the gym working on things.”

Promoter Eddie Hearn added: “I thought that was the perfect opponent for him at this stage, well-done to the matchmaker. Amos is Midlands, English title level.

“Junaid is 21 years of age, he’s got so much growing to do. He’s a fantastic talent, one of the best young fighters in the country. A 21 year old is normally in the amateur system but this kind of education is so much better than that. Getting in here, professional fights doing eight rounds will really bring him on.”

Before that, Lewis Sylvester clinched the vacant England lightweight title with a hard-fought 10-round decision over Lewis Cope.

However, the defeated man can feel hard done by with the result after giving everything in pursuit of a victory which would have reignited his stop-start career.

Kieran McCann and Kevin Parker both scored Sylvester a 96-94 winner while Michael Alexander had it 96-95 in his favour too which is testament to how close this fight was.

Switch-hitting Sylvester moved well and landed in short flurries but it was Cope who appeared to be having more successful, sustained attacks. However the judges were in agreement that it was the Yorkshireman who had done enough to nick the win.

Earlier, two-time world amateur champion Beatriz Ferreira continued her serene progress in the pros, outpointing Karla Ramos Zamora over the course of eight one-sided twos.