Scott Quigg battles to majority draw with Yoandris Salinas

Scott Quigg

Scott Quigg retained his WBA super-bantamweight title with the judges scoring a majority draw against Cuba's Yoandris Salinas.

Quigg, 24, defended his title for the first time having been upgraded to full champion status outside the ring and improved steadily throughout the fight.

But two of the judges scored the fight 114-114 and the other awarded it to Quigg 115-113.

"I feel I won the fight, by a round or two rounds," he told Sky Sports.

"I think we got the tactics spot on. I believe I won the fight."

The Cuban started strongly but Quigg stepped up his tempo midway through the bout and took control, giving Salinas a torrid finish to the fight.

Quigg stood by his tactics but acknowledged he might have won if he had pressed earlier.

He added: "In the first five or six rounds we knew he was going to be sharp and couldn't have gone like [I finished] at the start.

"I stuck to the plan, felt in control all the way through and I'm gutted I didn't get the win. He's a world-class fighter and I've proved I belong at world level.

"Maybe I should have put the gas on a round earlier."

Quigg is not a world champion in the strictest sense because Cuba's Guillermo Rigondeaux is the WBA's so-called 'super' champion.

On the undercard, Barry's Lee Selby held on to his British and Commonwealth featherweight belts after a hard-fought victory over Norfolk's Ryan Walsh.

Walsh was a rank underdog but demonstrated tremendous fitness and determination, making things very uncomfortable for the champion at times.

But Selby, despite suffering cuts to both eyes, had too much ringcraft for the challenger and was awarded a wide unanimous decision.

Former world title challenger Kevin Mitchell continued his rebuilding process with a sixth-round stoppage of Mexico's Marcos Lopez.

Mitchell was knocked out by Scotland's WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns last December but the Essex boxer is now the holder of the fringe IBF inter-continental lightweight title after a devastating three-punch finish.

Mitchell is now expected to fight Liverpool's Commonwealth title-holder Derry Mathews, with promoter Eddie Hearn saying they could meet in December.