By Mark Vester

At the Leisure Centre in Brentwood, Essex, Jason Booth (36-6, 15KOs) walked away with the Commonwealth (British Empire) and BBBofC British super bantamweight titles by fighting his way to a close twelve round split decision over Jamie Arthur (18-5). The scores were 117-112 and 115-113 for Booth, and the third judge had it 115-114 for Arthur.

A give and take battle with high paced action and many hard to score rounds. Booth felt like he was behind after six and really stepped on the gas to battle it out with Arthur down the stretch. The boxers only had three weeks notice for the fight and it showed with their tactics, but the conditioning of the fighters was amazing for two boxers who only had three weeks of time to get ready. Both boxers were cut from head clases.

On the undercard, British heavyweight prospect David Price (9-0, 7KOs) knocked out Osborne Machimana (18-7) in the third round of a Commonwealth heavyweight eliminator.