Liam Walsh unifies British and Commonwealth belts

Liam Walsh largely dominated his fight against a tough Gary Sykes to unify the British and Commonwealth super featherweight titles today in London, winning a 12-round decision on scores of 118-111, 118-109, and 119-108. BLH had it 118-109 for Walsh, who held the Commonwealth title coming into the fight.

Walsh (17-0, 11 KO) dropped Sykes in the opening round, setting the tone for the early stages where an aggressive Sykes (27-4, 6 KO) was just a bit outgunned against a more talented opponent. But Sykes never gave up on the fight, either, and won a couple of rounds in the middle of the fight, as Walsh seemingly began to slow. For a while, it became a case of Sykes' workrate against Walsh's superior quality of punches.

But once Walsh hurt Sykes again in the ninth round, the fight had once again become his, without question. Sykes finished the fight and did so pretty commendably, but Walsh was simply the superior, more well-rounded fighter, and the better man left with his hand raised today.

How far do you think Walsh, now 28, can go in the division?