Birmingham results: Eggington gets off canvas to retain title, Yafai and Macklin win

Sam Eggington was originally slated to face Frankie Gavin, but wound up rematching former Prizefighter foe Dale Evans on short notice.

This, as it turns out, wasn't as much of a reprieve as expected.

A massive overhand right dropped Eggington (17-2, 9 KO) in the second, kicking off a terrific exchange of power shots. Eggington came out aggressively in the third, landing some nasty body shots and right hands upstairs while Evans (10-3-2, 3 KO) tried to answer. The two went tit-for-tat for the next six rounds or so until Eggington's strength, volume, and body blows began to wear Evans down.

As the commentators put it, Eggington let out his "natural bully," walking Evans down and landing some powerful right hands. Eggington got to him in the eleventh with a left hook and some follow-up bombs, but Evans had a hope spot of his own in the twelfth with a nasty flurry that visibly hurt Eggington.

In the end, Eggington retained his British title via unanimous decision (117-110 twice, 116-110). While he struggled more than his trainers would have liked, he produced a terrific fight. Kudos to both Eggington and Evans.

At super flyweight, Birmingham prospect Kal Yafai, whose brother Gamal won a tough fight earlier in the afternoon, handily dominated Jason Cunningham to earn the BBBofC title.

Yafai was faster, sharper on the lead, and punished Cunningham with nasty counters any time the Doncaster native tried to force his way back into the fight. At no point in the fight was Yafai (17-0 ) in danger and, while the sole knockdown was a product of tangled up feet, showed some impressive power and accuracy.Cunningham (17-3, 6 KO) seemed content to just survive the later rounds, though that didn't save him from a fairly thorough drubbing.

Yafai ultimately earned the win on scores of 119-108 and 120-107 (twice).

In Matthew Macklin's first appearance at 154 in nearly a decade, he absolutely warred with the gutsy Jason Wellborn (17-4, 6 KO), trading brutal shots to the head and body for all ten rounds. Both men gave and got some tremendous punishment in one of the year's better fights. Ultimately, Macklin's (34-6, 22 KO) sharper punching, including some absolutely gorgeous left hooks to the body, carried him to a unanimous decision on scores of 96-94 (twice) and 97-93.

He's still probably too hittable to be a major player at junior middleweight and his inability to finish Wellborn is troubling, but it's both entertaining and worrying to see that he's still got that kind of fire.

Still plenty of boxing left this evening, so keep it here.