Crolla scores unanimous victory over a gallant Burns in Manchester.

In an intriguing if not significant fight at lightweight former world champions, Anthony Crolla (32-6-3, 13 KOs) and Ricky Burns (41-7-1, 14 KOs) met over twelve rounds at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England on Saturday night.. Crolla appeared to land the more telling shots in a highly watchable bout earning him the unanimous verdict, by possibly wider scores than I'd have tallied..  Scoring was. 116-113, 117-112, 116-114.

On the same card the slightly unheralded Mohamed Mimoune (19-2, 2 KOs) dethroned Sam Eggington (24-4, 13 KOs) of his European Welterweight title by split decision. Mimoune boxed more consistently than Eggington throughout the last half of the bout, showing an abundance of desire to win, a factor that appeared to be lacking in the champion.. I had the bout a clear cut unanimous win for the challenger.. Scores were 116-112, 115-113 for Mimoune, while a third judge submitted a classic at 116-112 for Eggington.

Welterweight Conor Benn (9-0, 7 KOs) took a veritable step up for his 9th outing against the usually capable Nathan Clarke (5-2-1, 1 KO) in an early support bout.. Benn meticulously cut the ring off from the start, before dropping Clarke early.. The ruthless Benn never allowed Nathan to regroup and scored a second heavy knockdown at a point where it would have been a justifiable stoppage.. Clarke was allowed to continue and was stopped moments later... Benn, somewhat content with his performance sounded extremely grounded in explaining how he doesn't wish to be rushed, stating that he fights who his team feels that he is ready for, saying that he doesn't even want to think about title fights yet, he gets nervous enough just boxing regular opponents.. Although it is apparent that before long Conor will be within range of domestic honours at least..

Former world title challenger Gavin McDonnell (18-1-2, 5 KOs) made a brief appearance, stopping tough Jozsef Ajtai (19-9, 12 KOs) in the first followed by another brief session by light heavyweight Hosea Burton (20-1, 10 KOs) who got rid of late substitute Ratu Latianara (5-1, 0 KOs) in just 1 minute 20 seconds.

Lightweight Lewis Ritson (13-0, 7 KOs) claimed the British 135lb belt with a seventh round stoppage of Robbie Barrett (15-3-1, 1 KO). Barrett had previously won his title with a hard earned decision over Scotty Cardle, Ritson jumped on Barrett and scored several knockdowns prior to the stoppage..