MARTIN MURRAY edged closer to world title ambitions at London’s Millennium Dome on Saturday, with a unanimous decision over Roberto Garcia.

A rocky few months for Murray have seen the St Helens veteran miss out on two scheduled title shots against Billy Joe Saunders, who pulled out both times through injury. Luckily for Murray, earlier this month, Garcia stepped up as Saunders stepped down. 

The fight got off to a shaky start for Murray, with Garcia having a point deduction for low blows in the second, and landing a cracking right on Murray in third.

Murray recovered well and maintained a good pace throughout, scoring with his fast combinations mixing from body to head.

Despite a further point deduction for Garcia in the ninth for rabbit punches, the Mexican marched forward in the final rounds, attempting to secure a knockout to no avail, with judges scoring for Murray 116-111, 118-109 and 118-108.

Now the WBC Silver Middleweight Champion, Murray must defend his title once before being made mandatory for Gennady Golovkin, who stopped him back in 2015. 

Also on the card, Anthony Yarde stopped Dariusz Sek in the seventh round. Sek, who had never been knocked out before, found “The Beast” too much, with the referee jumping in to end the contest.

Ohara Davies brutally knocked out Congolese Paul Kamanga in the second for his WBC International Super-Lightweight title. A vicious right hand to the top of the head saw Kamanga land face down, before thankfully rising to his feet soon after.

Highly touted London heavyweight Daniel Dubois won the English title in his eighth fight, by knocking out of the very game Tom Little.

Little’s attempts to counter-punch off the back foot were nullified by Dubois’s onslaught. A perfectly placed body shot in the fourth downed Little, who managed to see out the round. In the fifth, a constant barrage from Dubois proved too much, with the referee waving off the contest. 

At the Hydro in Glasgow, Scottish star Josh Taylor overwhelmingly outpointed former world champion Viktor Postol in a career breakthrough performance.

Postol proved a formidable opponent as expected, putting the 27-year-old through his paces with well-timed shots.

Despite being hurt in the seventh, Taylor recovered and went on to return the favour, dropping the tough Ukrainian in the 10th, securing a unanimous decision with all judges scoring in his favour 118-110, 117-110 and 119-108.