Cameron Vuong was awarded a controversial unanimous decision victory over Gavin Gwynne in the first true test of his professional career.
At the conclusion of 10 rounds at the Resorts World Arena in Birmingham, on the undercard of Sunny Edwards-Galal Yafai, he appeared to have been outworked by his Welsh rival, and yet the judges, perhaps predictably, scored him the winner via margins of 97-94, 96-95 and 96-94.
Gwynne, 34, had often been guilty of being one-dimensional in the application of his aggression – he often moved forward in straight lines, and lacked subtlety – but he also regularly forced the pace of their contest, threw punches consistently and with spite, and often landed.
The 22-year-old Vuong, in his seventh fight, responded admirably in the final two rounds, when he demonstrated the superior punch selection at a time when Gwynne’s momentum meant that Gwynne – cut by his left eye in the fourth round – should have been on course for victory.
Vuong had been considered to have taken a significant risk in agreeing to fight the bigger, more proven and more experienced Gwynne, and it regularly showed why. His good fortune in being awarded the decision was met by some boos in Birmingham. If he is to realise his potential, sharing the ring with Gwynne will likely prove key.
Troy Jones had by then made the first defence of his English light-heavyweight title, when he earned scores of 98-91, 97-93 and 98-91 against Michael Stephenson. He had also been deducted a point in the fifth round for his use of his shoulder.
The flyweight Hamza Uddin recorded his third victory, in his third fight, via one score of 59-56 at the conclusion of six rounds with Benn Norman.
Aaron Bowen proved particularly entertaining in recovering from a second-round knockdown in his six-round middleweight contest with James Todd to earn a fifth-round knockout, with a hurtful left to the body.
Ibraheem Sulaimaan also won via knockout, at super featherweight, and also after landing a left to the body, in the second round of his fight with Marvin Solano.
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