Going underground? Into overdrive more like.

James Hare entered the ring in Manchester to the strains of The Jam and left it to the sweet praise of Matchroom supremo Barry Hearn describing his display as the best he had seen in ten years.

Hearn's words may not be totally gospel - he does double as chairman of Leyton Orient after all - but you could not fault the sentiment.

Roberttown's Hare claimed the WBF version of the world welterweight title with a masterclass that any of the top boys in the division would have been proud of.

Hare made it clear before the fight that winning the belt would not make him a proper champion. Maybe not, but his bamboozling of tough Ukrainian Roman Dzuman is a mighty bargaining chip to put on the table. Dzuman, four-times a national amateur champion, had lost only once in 17 previous pro fights. And that was on a split decision against Jawaid Khaliq, who was at the MEN Arena on Saturday night to see the Eastern European tied up in knots.

The winning margins on the scorecards of the three judges said it all - 120-109, 119-108, 120-108. If anything they were kind on the victim.

Dzuman fished around helplessly like an England tail-end batsman trying to work out Shane Warne's flipper. He could not fathom out Hare from the first round to the last.

Ricky Hatton has made the MEN Arena his spiritual home and without the Hitman's ability to stick bums on seats, the venue was less than half full. But Hare's support matched that of top act Michael Brodie with around 500 fans descending over the Pennines to roar their support.

It was the first time Hare had gone the full distance, and make no mistake, Dzuman was a dangerous opponent. He came forward time after time, loading up with bombs from his swinging right hand - only few though, if any, connected.

Hare had Dzuman down in the second round with a blistering left uppercut from a southpaw stance that came out of nowhere and bloodied his opponent's nose. And Hare came close to forcing his 14th win inside the distance with a flurry at the end of the ninth, only for the bell to come to his rocking opponent's rescue.

Dzuman showed persistence to go the whole way. Many others would have driven themselves mad chasing shadows for 12 fruitless rounds. But on this evidence Hare, the ultimate shadow boxer, is more than ready to step into the limelight.