A BRUTAL English Lightweight title fight went the way of Doncaster's Reece Mould by unanimous decision on Friday night, but Bradford's Hamed Ghaz could hold his head high in defeat.

The biggest bout of Ghaz's career did not go to plan for him, meaning he lost for the first time in 19 professional fights, but both boxers took plaudits from a thrilling encounter at the Magna Centre in Rotherham.

Mould was comfortably Ghaz's toughest opponent to date, with his only previous defeat coming in a British Featherweight title fight against Leigh Wood, with Wood since going on to win the WBA World Featherweight title, and then retaining it eight months later.

Mould had won all three of his bouts after that defeat on points, but with two titles on the line here, he was looking for the knockout.

He came out swinging against Ghaz, and hurt his Bradford opponent badly in the second round.

But the Bradford man hit back well, with a strong finish to the third round putting him back in contention.

The South Yorkshire boxer seemed to have the edge through the first half of the bout, and Ghaz task became more difficult when he was cut over the right eye in the ninth and penultimate round.

That was part of a good finish to the contest from Mould, whose strong start and end to the fight just about gave him the edge in the end.

There were few quibbles with the eventual decision from the three judges.

One scored the fight 97-94 over the 10 rounds in Mould's favour, and the other two went 96-94 in favour of the Doncaster man.

It means he takes that vacant English Lightweight title, as well as the vacant WBA Continental Lightweight belt.

Mould's record now stands at 17-1, while Ghaz is now 18-1, after suffering his first professional defeat in over eight years in the ring.

On the same card on Friday night was Bradford journeyman Jake Pollard.

He is now 0-42 after losing on points in a four-round bout against Sheffield's Nohman Hussain, who moves to 2-0.