Chamberlain retains IBF European belt with bloody win over Ramlavs

Mark Chamberlain retained the IBF European Lightweight Championship belt for a third time with a pulsating 10th-round technical knockout victory over Artjoms Ramlavs.

Chamberlain extended his record to 14 wins from as many fights and 10 by knockout against the Latvian, who pushed him hard.

The Portsmouth fighter was quicker out of the traps and used his greater reach to good effect in the opening exchanges.

His impressive punching speed was reaping dividends, but Ramlavs was landing with some success in forcing Chamberlain back to the ropes.

Chamberlain was utilising his jab well and Ramlavs was looking wobbly and sporting a bloody nose.

To the Latvian’s credit, he hung in and left Chamberlain with a nasty cut above his right eye in a gripping end to the contest.

Blood was cascading down Chamberlain’s face, but he showed immense determination to get the stoppage with a left-hand cross, and the referee called time on this gripping exhibition of boxing.

Speaking after arguably the bloodiest fight of his career to date, he told TNT Sports: “It was a new experience getting a cut; we got through it and it wasn’t very nice.

“Any fighter that’s had a cut will know that if the Vaseline gets in your eye, you’re blinded in one eye.

“In one of the rounds, I got through with one eye and I couldn’t judge where the punches were coming from.

“But it was a new experience, I kept calm and got through it.”

Meanwhile, Henry Turner put his WBC International Sliver Super-Lightweight Championship on the line against Billy Allington, in what was a clash of styles.

Turner was mostly forcing the issue with a southpaw stance against the orthodox Allington, who looked to attack the reigning champion on the counter.

Allington was hanging in the contest, but was successfully restricting Turner to few clear-cut opportunities.

He caught the challenger with a brilliant left hand in the seventh round, but Allington was undeterred and came out with more aggression in the eighth.

Neither fighter was particularly effective on the inside, in what turned into a bit of a slugfest in the latter stages.

However, it was Turner that was clearly winning the contest and Allington needed a knockout to take the belt away.

After 10 arduous and largely scrappy rounds, it was the 23-year-old from High Wycombe who retained his belt.

Elsewhere on the card, Liam Williams did not waste any time in his middleweight clash against the Romanian Florin Cardos.

The fight was over with only one minute 17 seconds on the clock, after the Welshman unleashed a devastating right cross.

Two fighters marked their professional debuts with victories by decision, as Charlie Hickford won on points in his featherweight bout against Jake Pollard, while Billy Adams defeated Jahfieus Faure in a super-featherweight encounter.

Pollard was comprehensively beaten by Hickford over the course of four rounds, but has his sights set on a long-term goal away from the ring.

The 31-year-old is focused on raising enough money to take his child to Lapland, and went another step towards that landmark.

Ben Fail did not fail in a super-welterweight bout against Nikola Stoyanov, and won comfortably with a second-round technical knockout.

Khalid Ali fought out a cagey six rounds against Fernando Mosquera, but the Brit managed to negotiate past the latter’s awkward style to win on points.

The solitary women’s fight on the card pitted Kristina O’Hara against Cristina Navarro, and the former won via a points decision.

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