Ekow Essuman won the Lonsdale Belt outright as he made a third successful defence of the British and Commonwealth welterweight titles with a unanimous decision over Samuel Antwi on the Joyce-Parker undercard in Manchester.

Essuman was a worthy winner as he set the pace throughout, while Antwi tended to be content to switch off at times.

But Antwi did have his moments and was only edged out by a round on the scorecard of Mark Lyson (115-114), although Michael Alexander (117-112) and Steve Gray (116-113) had it wider.

At 33, Essuman, who was a high-class amateur, is now unbeaten in 18 fights, so if he is going to move up to another level, that needs to happen soon.

Essuman did well on his front foot in the first round, measuring Antwi with his jab, although the Londoner finished the round well as he opened up, but the pair opened up more in the second as Essuman slung in some fast hooks.

Antwi did well from distance in the third, but a late burst from Essuman turned the tide, although Antwi avoided most of the punches.

The champion was starting to boss the fight, though, as Antwi backed away and invited Essuman in, there was little output in the main from Antwi in the fourth and fifth rounds as Essuman was busy and kept on the pressure.

Antwi started the sixth round with a bit more purpose, but Essuman came back well, slipping Antwi’s punches as he forced his way forward.

At the start of the seventh, Essuman upped his workrate again and, as he backed Antwi into the ropes, he landed a hard right hook to the side of the head. Antwi battled back off the ropes, but Essuman stayed right on his chest.

There was more of the same in the eighth, although Antwi did better in the ninth round, as he kept Essuman at bay in the main and he landed a decent right in the tenth round, as Essuman walked in with his hands low.

Essuman had a good eleventh round, though, as he stayed at distance and picked Antwi off and there was no urgency from Antwi in the last round as the fight drifted towards its conclusion.

British and Commonwealth super-middleweight champion Mark Heffron is on a roll right now and needed just 76 seconds of a scheduled eight-rounder to stop Argentina’s Martin Bulacio.

Heffron, who took the British and Commonwealth titles from Lennox Clarke with a stunning stoppage just two months ago, wasted little time in finding Bulacio with a big right, that rocked the Argentinian back on the ropes, but didn’t then rush in, instead working Bulacio back into a corner, where he landed a huge left hook that seemed to knock Bulacio out on his feet, as well as another right just as referee Michael Alexander leapt in to stop the fight.

Next up for Heffron could be France’s European champion Kevin Lele Sadjo.

Raven Chapman recorded the biggest win of her career to date as she beat former world champion Jorgelina Guanini, of Argentina, in only her fourth professional bout via an eight-round unanimous decision at featherweight, to claim a WBC featherweight international belt.

Chapman, 28, used her size and power edge well as she kept pressure on Guanini, the former IBF super-flyweight champion, throughout.

She was unlucky not to be awarded a knockdown in the second round when Guanini – who was having her third fight in the UK was rocked with a clubbing right hook and touched down with her right glove, although it went unnoticed by referee Victor Loughlin.

The more experienced Guanini kept busy, looking to counter with flurries of punches and, when Chapman backed off in the fifth round, Guanini pressed the pace and had success, at close quarters.

In the sixth, Chapman seemed to hurt Guanini with two left hooks to the body, but Guanini fired back, turning Chapman on the ropes and firing back.

But in the last two rounds, Chapman kept her distance, while Guanini chased after her, winging in big hooks, more out of hope than expectation.

Chapman got the verdict by scores of 79-73, 78-74 and 77-75.

In the pre-broadcast action, there were three wins for unbeaten hopefuls.

Middleweight James Heneghan moved to 8-0 by stopping Rod Douglas Jr in the fifth round, having dropped Douglas in the first.

Lightweight Callum Thompson dropped Delmar Thomas in the third on route to a four-round decision in the show-opener.

Amaar Akbar beat Karlo Wallace on points over four rounds at super-lightweight.

Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.