Jason Welborn wins a second Midlands title

Welborn, a former area boss at welterweight, replaced his former strap with hometown hero Carruthers' belt at light middle.

Blood was shed at the Holiday Inn in Birmingham last night, after the champion had set a fast pace in the frenetic earlier rounds.

But he was sliced open above both eyes midway by the time of the eighth round, forcing respected referee John Keane's intervention 52 seconds into the session.

The fight doubled up a British title eliminator and Welborn believes he deserves to hold that mantle with the cold hard result, saying: "As the rounds went on, I could tell I was hitting and hurting him.

"When I saw the blood, I just kept on working on him, I stepped it up and I feel it would have really told after another round or two.

"When he was cut, it was only a matter of time. It's a British eliminator, that's what I was in there for, not just the Midlands. 2014 will be my year, I am on top of the world now.

"Now I am at this level, I need to be stepping my game up. It's all written out for me. If that British title is meant for me, I will be winning it."

Despite the end result, Welborn was behind on the scorecards, but a stiff right hand had drew claret from Carruthers before a flurry left him leaking at the finish, forcing the official to act.

On the undercard, Halesowen's Lennox Clarke shut-out Jody Meikle on points and will have taken on-the-job experience from his slippery adversary.

The two light heavyweights clashed in the evening's opening bout and, by the final bell, the raw but brutal Clarke met an immovable object in the Scunthrope slugger.

He may have proved the irresistible force had been able to tag his opponent clean, but he forced his opponent onto his toes with two stiff right hands in the third round.

Clarke, who has bypassed the amateur ranks completely, had wiped out everything in his path on the white-collar circuit, but stayed cool and went with Meikle to record a 40-36 verdict.

Elsewhere on the card, Birmingham's Craig Cunningham was 2-1 on knockdowns before rolling over a 39-37 points winner, after exciting exchanges in their middleweight four-rounder.

A stiff left bowled over Stoke's Marcus Le Doux in the first and the Staffordshire fighter again hit the canvas from a right in the second, before a lax Cunningham hit the deck through the same shot.

Completing the bill, fellow Brummie Michael Rooney scored a fourth straight pro win at light welterweight in a four-round points landslide over Kristian Laight, in his rival's 180^th paid contest.