Jamie Ball sees cut lead to a draw

Coseley's Jamie Ball fell foul of the British Boxing Board of Control Rules in his English light middleweight title eliminator at the New Bingley Hall in Birmingham.

Ball's contest with fellow undefeated fighter Nasser Al Harbi ended in a deflating technical draw on last night's Dave Coldwell-promoted bill.

'The Black Country Bully' and the hometown prospect left with their undefeated streaks intact, on 13 wins each.

But neither will be pleased that the contest failed to produce a winner, an outcome which hasn't pushed anyone to a higher level.

It all swung on a cut Al Harbi received to the right eye requiring three stitches in the fourth round, seemingly from a left hook from Ball.

But referee Terry O'Connor ruled the telling blow was from a clash of heads, invoking new rules introduced at the start of last year.

If the referee deems the cut was caused by an accident and the fight is then stopped by the doctor, the bout is stopped and declared a draw.

It goes to the scorecards after four rounds and there was still some one minute and 24 seconds left of the fourth session.

But O'Connor had also scored Al Harbi the winner of the three previous rounds despite the third session, where Ball had come on strong.

Ball said: "My adrenaline was still pumping at the time and I wanted to carry on, it was turning into a good fight.

"I am always a slow starter, I was just getting into the swing if things and I was enjoying the fight.

"Probably he was the same so, hopefully, we can both move on from this."

The other title fight saw Birmingham's Terry Carruthers take the British Masters middleweight title at the expense of Stourbridge's Kevin McCauley.

McCauley is Brighton-born and a West Midlands resident for the second time after moving back for a second time recently.

Boxing back out of the region, the 32-year-old came together with the Brummie scrapper.

Carruthers thought he had scored a knockdown in the second round after a flurry of punches.

But referee O'Connor ruled McCauley had slipped and the contest swayed in a see-saw manner.

McCauley experienced success with feigning right hands and moving in with left uppercuts.

It was such a blow that sliced Carruthers open in round seven, but the cut was closed in the corner.

To his credit, Carruthers tucked up and was clinical in his work from then on and that's what won him the fight on points by three rounds, by 97-94.

In his professional debut, Dudley's Riswan Rasool turned over by edging past Dan Carr in a hard-fought lightweight contest over four rounds.

The 30-year-old hadn't been in a competitive ring for over a decade and wasn't given an easy ride by Carr.

Carr really shook the new-boy with a left hook that had him wobbling in the first round.

Rasool survived but took constant breathers by holding although he managed to last the pace, even if his work was restricted to single shots.

With the scores tied in the last round, Rasool used his languid style to hit a deft shot as Carr came into the ropes and won on points, by 38-39.

West Bromwich's Adam Corbett was also in action, opening the show with his third straight win since turning pro last June.

The 27-year-old light heavyweight used his height advantage, standing 6ft 2in, to see off Bristol's Nick Gigg in a points shut-out.

Referee Robert Chalmers had the Black Country fighter winning every one of the four rounds, to make the score 40-36.

By Craig Birch