Billy Joe Saunders took his time before coming to life in the first defence of his WBO middleweight title against Artur Akavov at the Lagoon Leisure Centre in Paisley.

After a slow start to the fight - understandable as the Hatfield boxer had been out of action for almost a year - he eventually got going and finished the 12-rounder strongly.

The three judges called it 116-113, 116-112, and 115-113 in his favour to take his record to 24-0, although Saunders admitted in the ring afterwards that he had not been at his best.

The Englishman was supposed to defend the belt last week in Cardiff but issues with medical paperwork from the Russian's team saw the fight postponed.

A scheduled defence against Ukraine's Max Bursak seven months ago was scuppered after the 27-year-old sustained a hand injury in training.

With former world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury at ringside supporting Saunders after carrying into belt into the ring, the champion was determined to retain the title he won against Ireland's Andy Lee last December.

Akavov, previously beaten once in 17 fights but never stopped, looked impressive in the early stages and the champion felt the force of a couple of good shots, particularly in the third round.

Saunders tried to up the tempo but Akavov responded, landing some clean counters in the clinches and the silence among Saunders' support was telling.

The champion, try as he might, was struggling to land punches of real significance and his opponent, always willing to come forward, continued to frustrate.

The southpaw was finding some success with his jab and in round eight he used it to set up several attacks which probably nicked him the round.

Saunders started to move forward with more purpose, perhaps sensing the Russian was beginning to feel the effects of his earlier work and the ninth was his too.

Saunders was brutally honest in his assessment of his performance.

“I’d like to apologise to the fans especially those who have paid for it, [it was] a terrible performance. I’ve called Golovkin out, but on that performance I want to be embarrassed.

“I have got to go back, adjust, and new year I want a big fight to put that right because that’s not acceptable, that’s not a world champion performance at all. I’m an honest man and most British [level] fighters perform better than that, but a win’s a win, I’ll always find a way, it was a scrappy win.”

For whatever reason, Saunders' career trainer Jimmy Tibbs was not in his corner. Saunders would not fully explain his absence.

“In boxing sometimes you have to do what you feel is right yourself, it may not be the right decision, it may be the right decision. I’m not making a comment about Jimmy, but after this fight I have got to go back down and sit and have a chat man-to-man. You could put who you want in that corner tonight and they couldn’t have helped. It was a dead performance from me.”