By Elliot Foster

Josh Wale retained his British bantamweight title with a crushing stoppage win.

The Barnsley man was getting the better of foe Don Broadhurst throughout the fight as age appeared to catch up with the 33-year-old.

It was a topsy-turvy display in the opening stages, as part of the undercard to Hughie Fury’s bid to rip the WBO world heavyweight title away from Joseph Parker, but Wale, who had previously challenged for the domestic crown up at super-bantamweight against Liverpool’s now-former king Jazza Dickens, came out on top despite suffering from a bad cut above the left eye which saw blood pouring into the eye, potentially affecting the vision.

If that was the case, he didn’t show it and it was Broadhurst who was on the wrong end of things as, visibly tired in the penultimate round, he walked on to a sharp flurry of shots and was put flat on his back by a right hand.

The referee called an end to the contest after one minute and 32 seconds of the 11th round, leading to the stricken fighter receiving medical attention before being led away from the ring by security towards the sanctity of his dressing room.

Also on the card, Joe Murray won a controversial decision over Matty Fagan after a quiet 10 rounds.

He is now a step closer to fighting for the British title after he, despite having a point deducted in the eighth round, was scored the victor over the Ellesmere Port man.

And Jimmy Kelly Jr. began his road back to world title contention by picking up a fringe title.

The former WBO super-welterweight world title challenger, who was stopped in seven rounds by Liam Smith back in December 2015, won the vacant WBO Inter-Continental crown with a one-sided win against Stiliyan Kostov.

Kelly didn’t have to take a backwards step in the fight and the Bulgarian import played right into his hands as he was down three times before the referee spared him of any further punishment with a second remaining in the fourth round.