Jack Catterall was denied a world title shot after struggling a break up determination loss to Arnold Barboza Jr in Manchester.
Catterall had aimed to earn a compulsory bout for Teofimo Lopez’s WBO super-lightweight belt, however Barboza Jr edged him out on the scorecards, incomes three tallies of 115-113 to safe the WBO interim belt and a combat together with his compatriot.
Each fighters loved spells of success in a close-fought encounter, with Barboza Jr relieved that referee Steve Grey dominated a slip after he tumbled to the canvas in spherical 10.
Catterall was unable to cut back the small deficit on the scorecards as he suffered his second defeat since a extremely controversial factors loss to Josh Taylor in 2022.
On the undercard, Reece Bellotti defended his British and Commonwealth super-featherweight titles with a Tenth-round stoppage win over Michael Gomez Jr.
Reece Bellotti broke the resistance of Michael Gomez Jnr
Bellotti was made to attend for Gomez Jr, who had withdrawn attributable to unwell well being on the evening of their beforehand scheduled bout.
However Bellotti continued his profession resurgence by flooring Gomez Jnr with physique pictures within the fifth and eighth rounds earlier than the Lancashire boxer was pulled out by his nook workforce forward of the Tenth.
Daniel Dubois v Joseph Parker and the Artur Beterbiev v Dmitry Bivol rematch can be dwell on Saturday February 22 on Sky Sports activities Field Workplace. Guide now!
