Jack Catterall picked up a technical decision win over Harlem Eubank after a clash of heads cut their welterweight fight short.
The domestic dust-up was waved off before the start of the seventh round due to the two combatants sustaining horrific cuts following a collision in the sixth.
Catterall came off worse for wear, with blood running down his face and painting his chest.
But it was actually the doctor in Eubank’s corner who advised that the action be stopped.
As at least four rounds had been completed, the fight went to the scorecards with all three ringside judges scoring the bout in Catterall’s favour by margins of 69-65, 69-66, and 69-66.
Catterall got the better of proceedings and was a deserved winner, although it won’t have been the way he will have wanted to get his hand raised.
“The fight was going how I expected it to go, we were breaking him down,” Catterall said in the immediate aftermath.
“It’s frustrating not being able to get the rounds and go through them gears like I anticipated, but it’s a head clash.
“Not the way I wanted to win, but happy to be back in the win column.”
Both men blamed each other for the head clash, though neither of them thought it was intentional.
Eubank called for a rematch following the premature ending, but Catterall and his team seem intent on moving on to world title opportunities.
“He’s a world-class operator, but I was warming into the fight,” said Eubank.
3
“I was landing clean, flush right hands, and he came in with his head and caused the cut.
“I was ready to go in round seven, we were building into the fight beautifully, executing the game plan.
“I felt like I was world-class in there, and I didn’t get the result tonight.
“There has to be a rematch. Fair play to Jack, he didn’t call the fight off.
“But I was coming into the fight beautifully, and we need to run it back.”
Asked whether Catterall will accept Eubank’s call for a rematch, the Chorley boxer’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, replied: “For us, he wants to move on and try and get himself in a position to challenge for a world title.
3
“You have got Paddy Donovan vs Lewis Croker coming up.
“That looks like it could be for the IBF world title with Boots moving up, and we want to get Jack in that position.
“I would have liked to see the fight go on, but that is not the way it works. It was a big head clash, two horrendous cuts, it goes to the scorecards, and it was the right decision.
“For us, we move on to world titles, but Harlem rematch or no rematch, he has big fights ahead of him.”
