Femi Fehintola flew out to Jamaica today to cure his "banging" head.

A fortnight's holiday in the Caribb-ean sun will be the perfect antidote after a frustrating Saturday night at Sheffield's Ponds Forge Arena.

The Bradford Moor super-featherweight made it 14 fights unbeaten in the paid ranks when he won every round against niggly Ukrainian Nikita Lukin.

But Fehintola was less than impr-essed with his own display against an opponent bent on strangling the life out of the contest.

Lukin was warned four times for pushing his head into Fehintola's face and should have had at least one point deducted by lenient referee Steve Gray.

Trainer Richard Poxon frequently complained to Gray about Lukin's tactics but the official clearly decided that a few lectures were enough.

Fehintola's puffed-up forehead was proof afterwards of his opponent's approach and he admitted: "I've got a pounding headache; it's really banging.

"It's frustrating because I wanted a good performance but against that guy it wasn't possible. There was no time to get any shots off before he grabbed me all the time.

"I didn't box that well but at least I got the win. I suppose it's another learning fight and I'm going to get that at the top."

Fehintola, buzzing after knocking out Ivo Golakov in Monte Carlo in March, never saw enough of the target to have a chance of repeating that.

Lukin, like Rakhim Mingaleev at Huddersfield last year, was purely there to spoil. Despite the loud encouragement of his wife at ringside, he remained in his shell apart from one half-hearted flurry in the final minute.

Fehintola rightly took an 80-72 verdict to edge closer to a shot at one of the smaller titles but he was not a happy guy.

Bradford welterweight Gavin Smith was far more content when he clocked up his second stoppage by crushing Alexei Zhuk.

His taller opponent, from Belarus, had no answer to Smith's persistent jab which got through his guard time and again.

Smith went into the fight keen to do himself justice after an up-and-down start to professional life and he seized control from the opening round, scoring well with some clever overhand rights and unleashing neat combinations.

Zhuk was under pressure throughout but survived until the third when he paid the price for trying to open up. Moving in to throw a jab, he left a gap for Smith to counter before unleashing a vicious right hook which had the Belarussian buckling and the ref was wise to call it off.

Smith, who improved his record to 5-1-1, said: "I just wanted to show people my quality and I think I did that. I could have done with a few more rounds, although it's always nice to get a stoppage win.

"He was a strong opponent who stood his ground. He was trying to get his jab working but mine was much quicker than his. Right now it's all about building and fighting regularly to build up my confidence."