Shabaz Masoud maintained his unbeaten record with a split decision win over Jose Sanmartin as he kept his WBA Intercontinental title by a narrow margin.
Scores of 98-92 and 96-94 in Masoud’s favour gave him the nod against a 96-94 card for Sanmartin, but the experience will do the young prospect the world of good as he moves up the rankings.
Masoud made a decent start as he used his superior skillset to box from distance, but Sanmartin was hard to deter as he kept coming forward.
The southpaw jab of the Stoke man was the ideal weapon to build a lead against Sanmartin as his confidence grew in the middle rounds, his excellent lead hand was able to set up other eye-catching attacks.
Despite falling behind by the halfway mark, Sanmartin remained game as he battled to stay in the fight, but his efforts were largely contained by Masoud who tried to follow the instructions of Ben Davison.
In the latter stages, Sanmartin went for broke as he knew he was behind on the scorecards, but his final rally was not enough as Masoud’s earlier work just kept him in front.
At the end of ten rounds, Masoud knew he had done just enough to get his hand raised, but going the distance at an impressive pace should prove to be more vital as he looks to push on and collect bigger titles than the one he claimed tonight.
All highlights from tonight's show are below.