Previously unbeaten Shropshire boxer Mark Lloyd slipped to the first defeat of his paid career at Nottingham Arena - with the vacant English welterweight title at stake.
The Shifnal plumber’s hopes went down the drain on on Saturday night when he was out-pointed by awkward Nottingham opponent Adnan Amar 97-95 in a 10-round contest
Defeat, which sees Lloyd’s record dip to 10-1, came at the hands of a more experienced rival who fights out of the famed Ingle stable in Sheffield.
Amar, victorious in all but one of his 27 previous contests, vaulted into the ring like his hero Naseem Hamed - but his bluster counted for very little in a sometimes scrappy but always close encounter.
For long periods Mark took the initiative, pressing forward and forcing his more experienced opponent to work off the back foot in a contest marred by too much holding and spoiling.
Amar, however, looked unconcerned by the situation and regularly broke away from clinches to score with eye-catching hooks to both head and body, all of which were noted by Birmingham referee Terry O’Connor.
Lloyd’s cause wasn’t helped either when, in the third round, he was docked a point by the ref for use of the head.
By the mid-way point Lloyd was fighting his way back into it though, upping the pace significantly.
But unfortunately much of what he threw at that stage was taken on the gloves and arms by the tall Nottingham boxer.
Action in the later stages once again became scrappy and, with little to choose between the two battlers, rounds proved somewhat difficult to score.
But a heavy left hook to the head, Amar’s best shot of the evening, proved enough for him to earn the eighth.
And despite Lloyd’s best endeavours, his spirited rally down the final straight proved insufficient and it was Amar’s arm that was rightly raised by O’Connor at the final bell.
l Telford debutant Keiron Gray made a fine start to his paid career with a third round stoppage victory over fellow first-timer Lee Duncan.
Trial referee Rob Chalmers decided he had seen enough when calling a halt with just 37 seconds of the round having elapsed.
The taller Duncan, another product of the Ingle stable, appeared to have little appetite for the middleweight battle that was scheduled for four three minute rounds.
He soon found himself in trouble, rocked by a left hook to the head in the opening moments and again by the same shot, coupled with a follow-up right hook to the body from Gray, early in the next.
With no apparent let up in what had become a one-sided affair, it came as no surprise when the official stepped in to call a halt.
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