Chisora Triumphs in fight 49

It is now 49 Not Out for a resurgent Derek Chisora.

The British heavyweight favourite rolled back the years and overwhelmed an outgunned Otto Wallin, putting the Swede down in the ninth and 12th rounds.

Despite suffering a nasty cut by his eye that required approval from the doctor to continue, Chisora ploughed forward and refused to allow Wallin any space to work.

Ultimately, the fight went to the scorecards, which read 117-109, an unfathomable 114-112 and 116-110. In all honesty, all three cards were generous to a lethargic Wallin.

The Londoner started brightly and hunted down the younger man with brutal intent. In the third he landed telling blows, included a huge right hook, but his work came close to being sabotaged by a clash of heads in the fifth that was seriously inspected in the following round.

A blistering and savage assault was inflicted on Wallin in the seventh and Chisora retained the energy for a 20-plus punch rampage in the eighth. Then a looping right hand to the temple sent Wallin sprawling to the canvas in the ninth and he found himself on the floor again seconds before the final bell.

An emotional Chisora addressed the enormous gathering at the Co-op Live Arena post-fight and unveiled images of Daniel Dubois, Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk, asking the crowd which one they would prefer him to have fight number 50 against.

Nathan Heaney’s challenge for the WBA Continental middleweight title was ended in the seventh round against Sofiane Khati when he was stopped by referee Bob Williams after being put down earlier in the round. After a confident and snappy start by the Stoke favourite, Heaney endured a traumatic spell in the fifth that lent confidence to the French champion and the end came with 1.08 on the clock in the seventh round.

Jack Rafferty retained his British, Commonwealth and WBC International Silver super lightweight titles with a mightily impressive display against challenger Reece MacMillan. Rafferty bossed the fight from the start and wore down his opponent with some textbook boxing. The MacMillan corner threw in the towel and referee Mark Bates waved off the contest after 1.37 of the seventh round.

Zach Parker laboured in his light heavyweight match-up against late notice opponent Michael Diallo. The Derbyshire man did have the better of it but was badly marked up and often manhandled by the capable Frenchman. The scorecards were in favour of Parker, reading 98-92, 98-93 and 97-94. Victor Loughlin refereed.

Following a cracking clash at featherweight, Zak Miller is the new British and Commonwealth champion after he got the better of the previously unbeaten Masood Abdulah. Miller started the brighter before Abdulah forced his way back into the fight, but the local lad rallied strongly at the finish to secure the belts. The fight was scored 114-114, 115-114 and 115-113. Mark Lyson was referee for this title double-header.

Earlier in the evening, heavyweight Lewis Williams (40-36 vs Cristian Uwaka), middleweight Walter Fury (40-36 vs Joe Hardy), Joe Cooper (40-34 vs Artjom Spatar) and Jermaine Dhliwayo (40-36 vs Mark Butler) were all successful in four round contests.