Grant Cunningham cut off at the halfway point

Leeds' Damon Jones sustained a cut which proved curtains come the fifth round of a scheduled 10 on Saturday night, writes Craig Birch.

With the bloodshed caused accidently, the bout went to the cards as legislated by the British Boxing Board of Control when proceedings have passed the fourth.

As claret oozed from Jones' right eyebrow, referee Shaun Messer called for the bell and ruled the visiting fighter the victor by a point, scoring the contest 48-47.

It proved an unsavoury end to the main event at the Chase Leisure Centre in Cannock, a bill which also had been besieged by a Midlands title fight being scrubbed.

But there was belt joy for Stafford's Rob Hunt, at long last, as his bid to have a strap wrapped around his waist proved successful at the third attempt.

Opponent Liam Richards, the third co-challenger after Steve Jevons and Faheem Khan both pulled out, proved no adversary for British Bronze Masters welterweight honours.

Richards looked like a fish out of water, having jumped up the weights after previously holding a British Masters crown at super feather.

Knowing he was onto a winner, Hunt parked Richards behind his long jab although he couldn't find the killer touch, instead recording a landslide 80-72 points victory with referee Gareth Morris.

It was an evening of triumph for the 29-year-old, boxing his eighth year as a professional and undertaking his 25th professional contest. No one could really begrudge him that moment.

Area light welterweight boss Luke Paddock, from Bloxwich, had seen challenger Fergus Taylor ruled out of competing through complications with a brain scan.

That left Paddock with a six-rounder against another game adversary from Newark in Nottinghamshire, 'Fonz' Alexander Anderson arriving looking to make it a happy day.

It still proved a competitive affair, though, with Paddock putting his hands together and working off the jab, as Alexander tried to get in and work at close quarters.

Paddock boxed to orders and got the job done, dropping a round on the way by virtue of walking on to a couple of left hooks in the fourth round.

Stourbridge's Steven Pearce tracked down Dean Evans for the majority of their meeting, which dropped to a four twos at late notice.

The Welshman stepped in for Latvian cry off Eduards Krauklis on fight week and came to survive, which saw him through to the final bell.

'Fierce Pearce,' a former Midlands welterweight champion, was the aggressor and got all of the basics spot on to record a points shut out, 40-36 with the man in the middle Morris.

The rest of the bill saw Stourbridge's Kevin McAuley takes Leeds' Steven Mennell through the motions, the teak-tough centurion shut out by a 40-36 points margin.

That result was recorded as Birmingham's Sean Davis took on Janis Puksins at super feather, while Brummie lightweight Waqas Mohammed conceded a share of a round with Ibrar Riyaz.

Midlands title challenger Josh McLaren, impressively beaten by Paddock in December, rebounded with a fifth round stoppage by stopping hard man Jason Nesbitt.