Derek 'The Rebel' Roche lived up to his reputation of being involved in thrilling fights on a night when he lost his British welterweight title.

The brave Bradford-trained boxer was knocked down on five occasions but each time came back to cause problems for Harry Dhami, who claimed the title after 12 rounds of blood and guts boxing.

The Gravesend man had a height and reach advantage over Roche and that was the deciding factor in Dhami gaining a 116-109 points verdict from the referee.

Roche battled vainly throughout but could just not get close enough to Dhami on enough occasions to put his go-forward attacking style to proper use.

Instead, the 27-year-old was forced to lunge forward at Dhami which often left him off balance and forced to duck down.

Dhami took advantage by landing telling shots on the top of Roche's head and it was these rather than powerful shots which put the Leeds-man on the floor five times.

And it was that which cost him dearly with the judges when a 12 gripping rounds had ended.

Roche, who suffered a cut near his left eye in the seventh round, said: "It was very frustrating because I just couldn't get close enough.

"I broke my nose in the second round so every time I got hit on it I had a lot of pain. He put me down but the first time I was actually hurt was the low blow in the ninth round."

Dhami had started the more confident of the two and broke Roche's nose with a cracking punch in the second round.

However, roared on by a partisan home crowd who had made the short trip from Leeds to Barnsley, the 27-year-old hit back in the following round by knocking his Gravesend opponent to the floor.

Despite this, Roche was still throwing and missing too many punches and he was made to pay for this in the fourth when he was twice felled by blows to the top of the head when off balance.

Roche's best two rounds came in the fifth and sixth when Dhami was firmly on the back foot due to some fierce punches being landed.

Unfortunately for the champion, Dhami hit back with three knockdowns in the next two rounds to leave Roche knowing he needed a knockout to retain his title.

Dhami's dreadful low blow in the ninth round went unpunished by the referee and although Roche bravely battled on with a cut left eye, he could not get close enough to land a telling enough punch.

Roche was understandably disappointed to lose his title but you can be certain that such an entertaining boxer will be back in the future.

Manager John Celebanski said: "He didn't jab enough and he just couldn't get close enough. But it was a close fight even allowing for the final points verdict.

"The knockdowns which cost him a point each time were flashy ones that did not hurt him. I think with a different referee, it would have been a lot closer. This was the referee's first British title fight.

"Derek is a remarkable man who just keeps going. He had Dhami wobbling two or three times and I think without those knockdowns he would still be champion."

Earlier in the evening, Huddersfield's Mark Hobson beat Luke Simpkin with a 40-36 points verdict after four rounds while Leeds' James Lowther claimed the IBO Inter-continental middleweight title after stopping Steve McReady in the 11th round.

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