By Terence Dooley

Although their BoxNation-televised British and Commonwealth welterweight fight failed to catch fire, Birmingham's Frankie Gavin and Manchester's David Barnes picked up an injury apiece at London's Copper Box Arena venue on Saturday night.  Gavin, who was defending both belts, suffered a broken tooth and Barnes suffered a hand injury during a decent third round spell in which he landed a left, scored some follow up shots and left a mark under Gavin's left eye.  The fight then spluttered through to round 12 and the score cards, which saw Gavin take a deserved 117-112, 118-111 and 118-112 win, from Dave Parris, Phil Edwards and Marcus McDonnell respectively, to retain his titles.

"David suffered an injury to his left hand," confirmed Shannon when speaking to BoxingScene.  "It was really frustrating because it came during his best round.  I really thought he was starting to get to Frankie, but the injury meant he couldn't throw the punches he wanted to throw.  Dave tried the left early in the fourth, he really felt it and then couldn't get it going through the rest of the fight.  It was a disappointment, really, because neither lad really got going.

"Frankie has won the Lonsdale belt outright and will probably move on, so Dave should be in the running for a crack at the title because no one expected him to give Gavin things to think about.  He showed all the movement he needed to create angles, but that injury prevented him from slipping his punches through and seeing if he could land the same types of shots he landed in that fourth round.

"I don't think that Gavin looked at his best, but he stopped David from working on the inside and picked up his own points.  It's frustrating because I know that Dave had the rounds in him, so that injury was the last thing he needed as he really wanted and needed this win and the titles.  We'll see what the extent of the injury is, then talk about where he can go now and what happens when Frankie decides to move on."

Gavin, 17-0 (12), looked unhappy with his own performance yet the 27-year-old cantered to a win in the late rounds and will no doubt shine in coming fights.  Barnes slips to 27-3-2 (11) and although time isn't on the 32-year-old's side he will stick around to see if he can pick up the title once Gavin moves on, provided he overcomes the injury to his left hand and manages to get himself a few more outings before he next goes for a belt.

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