By Elliot Foster

Manchester Arena, Manchester - In a WBA lightweight final eliminator, former world champion Anthony Crolla (34-6-3, 13 KOs) won a twelve round unanimous decision over Daud Yordan (38-4, 26 KOs). The scores were identical with all three judges, at 116-112.

Crolla is now in line for a shot at WBA lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko, who next month will face WBO champion Jose Pedaza in a unification bout.

Crolla simply outworked and outpunched Yordan in the majority of the rounds. Yordan began to come alive in the late rounds, but it was too little, too late to turn the tide.

Crolla took on Indonesia’s Yordan as part of the supporting cast to Tony Bellew’s challenge against Oleksandr Usyk for the WBC, WBA Super, IBF, WBO and Ring Magazine world cruiserweight titles, exclusively live on Sky Sports Box Office in the UK and DAZN Stateside.

And it was 31-year-old ‘Million Dollar’ who came out on top, after a cute boxing performance, against the man who had previously been the distance 14 times in a career spanning 13 years.

“It was a very mature boxing performance because we knew it would be a very hard 12 rounds,” said Crolla, who was hurt during the fight by a body shot, said.

“If there’s a chance I can fight Vasyl Lomachenko then I’d love to and I’d love to have it in Manchester, but I wouldn’t be disrespectful enough to call out a good fighter like Lomachenko.

“It is what it is and if the fight’s there, we’ll have it.”