Selby to keep Lonsdale belt

Last Updated: October 5, 2013 11:01pm

Lee Selby (R): Started slowly against Ryan Walsh but was a comfortable winnerLee Selby claimed outright ownership of the Lonsdale belt after securing a unanimous decision victory over Ryan Walsh at the O2 Arena.

The Welsh fighter made a sluggish start against an undefeated opponent before asserting himself to complete a routine defence of his British and Commonwealth featherweight titles.

The only previous blemish on Walsh’s record was a draw against Ronnie Clark last year, but this time he ended up on the wrong end of scores of 118-112, 118-110 and 117-111 from the three judges.

A strong left hand from Walsh gave Selby something to think about in the opening round and the challenger continued to more than hold his own in the second.

The news got even worse for Selby when he was cut next to his right eye in the third round, although the referee ruled that the blood was drawn due to a clash of heads.

Selby finally started to assert himself in the fourth stanza and as the middle rounds progressed he started to rack up the rounds behind a number of impressive combinations.

Selby was warned for pushing down on his opponent, drawing a furious reaction from his corner, but it did not seem to have too much of an ill effect as he stretched out his lead on the scorecards.

With the blood flow from the cut now stemmed, Selby went on to control the final rounds and wrap up was eventually a comfortable win.

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Selby to keep Lonsdale belt