Former European super-bantamweight champion Gamal Yafai got back to winning ways after a big loss to Jason Cunningham in May last year as he stopped Sean Cairns in the fourth round of a scheduled eight on the Ogawa-Cordina undercard in Cardiff.

At 30, the younger brother of former WBA super-flyweight champion Kal and older brother of Olympic gold medallist Galal, still has ambitions to reach world level but the next 18 months will be key. He was a class above Cairns, though, and boxed with supreme confidence.

Yafai took his time to warm into things but went through the gears in the third round, as he dropped Cairns with a looping right hook, and it was only a lengthy delay for having had his gumshield knocked out that saw Cairns survive that round.

Cairns tried to fire back in the fourth but was badly outgunned, as he was hurt to the body, before Yafai landed a big left hook that dropped him in the corner, prompting referee Chris Jones to wave it off instantly at 1:55.

Former top amateur Calum French extended his unbeaten record to three fights, but was made to work hard before claiming an eight-round decision over Spain-based Liberian Gadatamen Taylor at lightweight.

Taylor did not want to take a step backwards and forced French to fight at a high pace throughout and the pair even went toe-to-toe in a grandstand finish. Referee Chris Jones scored it 79-73.

Skye Nicolson moved to 4-0 as a pro as she cruised to a one-sided eight-round decision over Uruguay’s Gabriella Bouvier, who briefly held the IBF flyweight title in the distant past and was having her first fight in nearly three years.

In a fight devoid of highlights, Nicolson kept Bouvier at arm’s length and chipped away at Bouvier who could not get close to Nicolson. Referee Reece Carter scored it 80-72.

Welterweight Ben Crocker moved to 4-0 as he was awarded a 40-36 decision by referee Chris Jones over Evgenii Vazem, who was competitive in every round, but was outworked by the useful-looking Crocker.

Also at welterweight, Joe Morgan won a 40-35 decision from referee Jones over Rustem Fatkhullin, who was unlucky to be deducted a point in the final round for punching on the break, after the referee had missed a blatant punch around the back by Morgan moments before.

Tall southpaw middleweight Kyran Jones dropped Vasif Mamedov with a sharp counter left hook in the second round on the way to a four-round decision, referee Reece Carter scoring it 40-35.

Ester Konecna secured her first win since her debut in 2015 (and her first in ten fights in the UK) as she claimed a 39-37 decision from referee Reece Carter against Monique Bux, who was making her debut, over four rounds. Bux just did not know how to deal with Konecna, from the Czech Republic, who came forward throwing no-stop punches.

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.