Former bantamweight beltholder Paul Butler made a successful return to junior bantamweight outpointing Ismael Garnica over 10 rounds on Saturday in front of his hometown fans in Liverpool, England.

Butler (17-0, 8 knockouts) outworked Garnica (13-5-1, 5 KOs), hurting his tough Mexican opponent on several occasions however he was unable to score any knockdowns. Ultimately, Butler cruised to a 100-91 decision on referee Mark Lyson’s solitary scorecard.

Earlier this year Butler had stepped up three pounds to bantamweight where be beat Stuart Hall to win the IBF bantamweight title.

Butler was scheduled to challenger Zolani Tete for the IBF 115-pound crown, however Tete was forced to pull out several weeks ago with a broken hand.

“He was the toughest I’ve boxed,” said the 25 year old British standout. “He took clean body shots, and he stood up and I could see him wincing but he wouldn’t go down. He was determined to stay up and he was winging away, he was having a go.”

Butler admitted it was hard to focus on a lesser fight following the Tete fight falling out.

“Yeah, it’s been really hard,” he said. “I was in the changing room thinking this should be for a world title but you’ve got to stay professional and carry on with the training and hopefully Tete will come off but for the time being we had to deal with Garnica.”

Promoter Francis Warren told BoxNation that he hopes to reschedule the Tete title fight next year.

“We’re looking at the end of February (or) start of March back up here probably.” said Warren.

Liam Smith (18-0-1, 8 KOs) made short work of Zoltan Sera (16-3, 10 KOs), dropping the Hungarian twice with body shots in the third before Howard John Foster rescued the Hungarian at 1:53 of the round to win a continental junior middleweight title.

The 26 year old, who has been plagued by injuries, now hopes to win the Lonsdale belt outright before stepping up in class.

Derry Mathews won a wide 12-round decision over Adam Dingsdale to win a continental lightweight title.

Mathews (36-9-2, 19 KOs) got off to a fast start dropping Dingsdale (11-2-1, 4 KOs) twice in the second round. Though he was unable to get the stoppage, he had the better of things before winning a decision 120-106, 119-107 and 118-108.

“I made it an easy fight,” a vitriolic Mathews stated. “People think I’m an old man, I’m in my prime now.”

Kevin Satchell added the European flyweight title to his British and commonwealth belts when he won a majority decision over reigning champion Valery Yanchy.

Satchell (13-0, 2 KOs) won 117-112, 116-112 on two of the cards, while the third judge scored it 114-114.

Promoter Francis Warren afterwards talked about the possibility of Satchell stepping up and facing Butler.

Middleweight prospect Chris Eubank Jr. warmed up for his grudge match with Billy Joe Saunders by blitzing overmatched Omar Siala in two rounds.

Eubank Jr. (18-0, 13 KOs) took his time, posing in the early stages before landing a peach of a right uppercut that forced referee Alvin Finch jump in and rescue the German at 1:15 of the second frame.

With the loss Siala dips to 23-18-3 with 10 stoppage wins.

Afterwards Eubank Jr. was keen to talk about his Nov. 29 “Bad Blood” bout with Saunders.

“I took the fight because I’m a fighter – that’s what I do,” said Eubank Jr. “Even if I did get injured I’d still get in and fight Saunders.

“Me against Saunders is bigger than Tyson Fury-Dereck Chisora.

“Saunders isn’t worthy of being called a British champion. I saw him outside a club in Manchester drinking beer. That’s the sort of man he is. This guy is in serious trouble on Nov. 29.”
Up and coming Liam Williams (11-0-1, 6 KOs) stopped Stepan Horvath (12-5, 4 KOs) in two rounds. The Welshman who impressively took out Horvoth at 0:36 of the second frame with a straight right hand.

Williams is booked for a Commonwealth title fight in December, though hopes to eventually challenger Liam Smith.

James “Jazza” Dickens (18-1, 5 KOs) won his second fight since losing to Kid Galahad last September when he stopped George Gachechiladze (15-15-1, 8 KOs) in the second round.

Jack Catterall made a big statement stopping former Team GB team captain Tom Stalker in eight rounds to claim a European-area junior welterweight title.

The 21 year old from Chorley dropped Stalker in the opening round and again in the second. Catterall had the better of things and added the exclamation point to his impressive performance when he landed a left hand that saw Stalker stumble backwards into the ropes, referee Mark Lyson jumped in after Catterall landed a couple of shots, saving Stalker at 2:40 of the eighth frame. Stalker’s corner also threw the towel in.

Lightweight Matt Fagan (6-1) surprisingly dropped a six-round decision verses Scotland-based Latvian Andrejs Podusovs (6-8-1, 1 KO) by a 58-57 score.

Steven Lewis (7-0, 2 KOs) won a four-round decision over Fonz Alexander (2-4)
Michael Joynson needed just 34 seconds of the first round to win his professional debut against Alec Bazza in lightweight action.

Welterweight Mason Cartwright made a successful debut outpointing Duane Green 40-36 over four rounds.

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