By Elliot Foster

Hughie Fury won the first belt of his professional career in what was something of an off night for him.

The Manchester heavyweight, cousin of the undisputed world heavyweight champion Tyson, advanced to 20-0 with 11 early endings at the Copper Box Arena as he picked up the vacant WBO Inter-Continental title.

Fury, 21, controlled the action from beginning to end against his more experienced counterpart, Fred Kassi of Cameroon, exclusively live on BoxNation, before a nasty cut to his left eye in round six meant that the fight was waved off by referee Terry O’Connor.

After the blood flow was stemmed, the three judges handed in margins of 69-66, 70-64 and 69-65, which meant that Fury was left to celebrate his first win of any significance against the New Orleans-based 36-year-old, who has been on the wrong end of decisions in his past few outings.

Hughie had been set for action twice in the coming three months, but it remains to be seen whether the extent of the cut will rule him out of his proposed clashes in Liverpool and Manchester, on June 4 and July 9, respectively.

ON THE UNDERCARD

Jamie Conlan survived the biggest scare of his professional career to add another title to his collection.

The Belfast super flyweight was knocked down three times before coming back to rip away the Commonwealth title from outgoing champion Anthony Nelson, exclusively live on BoxNation.

Conlan, who moves on to 16-0 (10 KOs), and Nelson put on a sure-fire fight of the year contender, as part of the undercard to Hughie Fury’s maiden career title clash, against Fred Kassi, for the vacant WBO Inter-Continental heavyweight title at the Copper Box Arena in London.

It was a fight so good that many watching couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

Nelson, 30, from South Shields, had success in the fight despite being stopped in the eighth.

The now-ex-champ knocked Conlan down and at times was in control of the fight, but down the stretch it came down to heart and determination.

A massive left hook to the body was the clincher for Conlan and, although Nelson will be bitterly disappointed to lose his title in such fashion, both fighters can hold their heads up high.

Nelson, though, slips to 11-1 (2 KOs) in defeat after suffering his first professional loss in what was a sensational showdown that featured five knockdowns.

Elsewhere, Ryan Walsh retained his British featherweight title with a stoppage victory.

The Cromer man ended the challenge of his mandatory contender James Tennyson inside five rounds after what was a systematic breakdown.

He started off on the front foot in the opening stages before downing Belfast’s Tennyson in the second round.

However, Walsh, whose sole defeat to date came at the hands of Lee Selby, the IBF world champion, back in October, 2013, was forced to soak up some pressure as the challenger, who recently signed with promoter Frank Warren, looked to forge something of a way back into the fight.

But Walsh didn’t look like letting him win the fight, dropping him twice in the fifth round before the fight was waved off, meaning that he needs just one more defence of the crown, which he won early against Samir Mouneimne last September and defended with a stoppage against Darren Traynor back in January, to win the Lonsdale belt outright.

On the undercard, Joe Pigford moved into double figures with a glittering knockout win.

The Southampton super welterweight, who is just 22, didn’t put a foot wrong in his crushing icing of the usually-durable Mike Byles.

Referee Phil Edwards was forced to wave the contest off just short of the three-minute mark and in doing so he handed Pigford his seventh straight inside-the-distance victory in what was his first fight since last July.

Byles, meanwhile, slips to 8-5 (2 KOs).

Boy Jones Jr. maintained his undefeated ledger, advancing to 8-0-1 (5 KOs) as he stopped Aron Sziagyi after two minutes of round four, while DP Carr went the distance with Qasim Hussain of Sheffield over four rounds and to move to 4-0 (3 KOs) and Tony Bange was victorious on his debut as he carded a 39-36 win over Teodor Stefanov over four rounds.

And Ilford’s Anthony Yarde, who is now 6-0, stopped Bulgaria’s Tzvetozar Iliev (5-14-3) inside two rounds to claim his fourth straight early win.

He was in control from beginning to end and after Iliev had taken all he could, he was hit by a sensational right hand that sent him straight to the canvas.

The referee, Marcus McDonnell, immediately dispensed with the count and the medics were called in to treat the visitor, who was given oxygen before being brought to his feet and being next to the referee as a second round knockout was recorded.