Sam Maxwell won the British and Commonwealth super-lightweight titles as he won an extremely close decision against Akeem Ennis-Brown on Saturday.

The two men were competing on a Queensberry Promotions event at Arena Birmingham that was broadcast live on BT Sport, with the result firmly splitting opinion.

After 12 rounds of action in a messy fight, the judges scored the fight 116-113, 116-113, 115-114 in the favor of Maxwell (16-0, 11 KOs), inflicting the first defeat in the career of Ennis-Brown (14-1, 1 KO).

The decision led to many disagreements between those who were watching, but Maxwell says he is more than happy to give Ennis Brown a rematch if he wants one.

Maxwell said: “I’d give him a rematch. He’s a good competitor, but it would be the same result again. I’ve got the beating of him. A lot of people wanted me to win and I’m sorry I didn’t get the knockout, but we got the win and that’s the main thing.

“I’m so proud. Me and Steve Maylett have been doing so much in the gym. The lads have been there with me as well for all of the hard sessions, and this is just the start.

“I feel like I’m dreaming. I haven’t boxed in front of a crowd for two years, and I’ve dreamed about it since I was a little kid. It went exactly how I thought it would. I knew he would be a tricky guy, but the judges were scoring the clean shots.”