Jono Carroll (18-2-1), returned to the ring last night for the first time since March to face heavy underdog Maxi Hughes (21-5-2).
The lightweight contest scheduled for 10 rounds featured as the main event on a 5-fight card delivered by MTK Global and streamed live on iFL TV via YouTube.
Carroll came into the fight the strong favourite, with most observers, including us, expecting this to be a straightforward tune-up.
Carroll's sole professional defeat going into the fight came at the hands of former IBF Junior lightweight champion Tevin Farmer, but since then his career had very much been on the ascent
Referring to his career-best win over the highly-rated Scott Quigg back in March, Carroll said before the fight "You're only as good as your last fight and my last fight was very good".
The win over Quigg put Carroll right in the mix up at lightweight. He'll have been looking forward to shaking off a bit of ring rust before moving on to some big fights and perhaps chasing down a title shot next year.
Hughes however, had no intention of being brushed aside. He boxed extremely well from the opening round, making it difficult for Carroll to close the distance and find his range.
Although Carroll's work rate was higher, Hughes was by far the cuter of the two, landing clean eye-catching blows while Carroll struggled to find a home for his shots.
There were some very close rounds, with Carroll's punch output and pressure matching Hughes' superior boxing and making it difficult to score.
In the end, the judges favoured the more precise and economic style of Hughes awarding him a unanimous decision with scores of 96-95, 96-95 and 97-93.
It was a huge win for Hughes who has five losses and 2 draws on his record. After the fight, when asked how he was feeling about the win he said: "It's about time. . . . I just knew deep down I had it and tonight I managed to pull it off".
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