Owen Cooper, an unbeaten 22-year-old from Worcester, claimed the Midlands Area welterweight title with a wide decision over Jamie Stewart in Telford.

Cooper was dominant and it was only Stewart’s toughness and bravery that kept him in there. He was down once, in the fifth round, but Cooper hit him a lot; his constant movement and heavy punching did not let up for the whole fight.

Referee Kevin Parker scored it 100-89, as Cooper moved to 7-0 while relieving Stewart of the title he won in March. He was making the second defense of the title, having drawn with Ben Fields last month.

After an odd first round, which was interrupted halfway by the bell and ultimately lasted for an extra 30 seconds, Cooper took control in the second round, looking more solid and accurate while Stewart tried to throw from too far away.

Cooper was mixing shots well to head and body and, in the fourth round, a fast left-right combination caught Stewart flush and knocked out his gumshield.

Stewart worked hard to keep Cooper off him, but he was too open, and when he missed with a left hook in the fifth round, he was countered by a left hook and knocked down on his back.

By the start of the sixth round, Stewart was looking tired, and Cooper had the look of a man who was still warming up.

In the seventh round, Cooper backed Stewart into the ropes and unloaded, landing a jolting right, although Stewart did his best to fight back, although he was taking heavy shots in the final moments of the round, as a right uppercut knocked Stewart’s gumshield out again.

A series of body shots had Stewart backing away in the ninth round, but the champion had no quit in him. There was no let-up from Cooper, though, who drilled Stewart with a big right early in the final round.

Referee Kevin Parker scored it 100-89.

Ezra Taylor made short work of outclassed late substitute Mohamed Cherif Benchadi, as the light-heavyweight prospect from Nottingham went to 4-0.

The first round was all Taylor, but it took him until the final seconds to lands a clean three-punch combination that dropped Benchadi.

The pattern continued in the second round and after Taylor dropped Benchadi with a decent right, referee Chris Dean waved it off as the Frenchman got back to his feet at 1:53.

The 38-year-old Frenchman was once unbeaten in four fights, but has now failed to win in 22, a run stretching back nine years.

Irish lightweight prospect Willo Hayden moved to 5-0 with a straightforward six-round decision over Marian Marius Istrate, a Romanian based in Spain.

Hayden, 20, was content in the main to box on the outside and Istrate looked content to let him do it.

The Romanian tried his luck with a few big swinging shots, but he spent most of the fight behind a high guard, while Hayden was happy not to take any chances.

Referee Dean scored it 60-54.

Also moving to 5-0 was another lightweight, Macauley Owen, who was a 60-53 points winner over Nicaragua’s Eduardo Valverde.

Liverpool super-featherweight Brad Strand was a 59-54 winner over another Nicaraguan, Darwin Martinez, while George Cummings stopped Paul Cummings at the fourth round at welterweight, to move to 6-0-1.

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.