Anthony Crolla beats Willie Limond to retain title

Crolla (right) catches Limond's chin with a strong right

Anthony Crolla retained his British lightweight title with a unanimous points win over Willie Limond.

Englishman Crolla was the stronger in the latter rounds with the scorecard eventually showing 120-108, 120-108 and 120-109 in his favour.

A lights blackout in the seventh round temporarily interrupted proceedings in Motherwell and Limond began bleeding from the nose in the 10th.

The Glaswegian ralled in the 11th but Crolla responded well to keep his belt.

Crolla was backed by a vocal support at the Ravenscraig Sports Centre

A tentative first round was followed by Crolla landing a good right-hand in the second but both fighters' respective defences were solid as the bout progressed.

Crolla, 25, began to force the pace with some body shots forcing Limond to deflect many of the attacks.

After the lights failure had been fixed, Crolla continued to force the issue, bossing the middle of the ring and delivering combinations and clusters.

Limond was spending most of his energy on his defence and his chances suffered a further blow with the nose bleed.

The 32-year-old impressed in the 11th but the champion's vocal supporters got the result they wanted in the end.

On the undercard, Crolla's fellow Mancunian Matthew Hall beat Kris Carslaw in their official eliminator for the British light-middleweight title, Hall emerging victorious with a 96-94, 96-94 and 97-95 scorecard.

Edinburgh cruiserweight Stephen Simmons triumphed against John Anthony with a score of 60-55.