Jamie Conlan defeats Yader Cardoza on points in Belfast

Jamie Conlan stayed on course for a world title eliminator with a battling points win over Yader Cardoza at the Waterfront Hall on Friday night.

Cardoza floored Conlan in the eighth round but the Belfast man recovered to earn a 19th straight professional win.

Conlan won the vacant WBC Silver Super-Flyweight title on a split decision.

Twice Olympic bronze medallist Paddy Barnes made it two wins from two pro fights with a comfortable points victory over Adrian Dimas Garzon.

The Belfast flyweight's opening bout ended in farcical fashion when opponent Stefan Slavchev was disqualified for lifting him off his feet.

This was a more straightforward win as a dominant Barnes put in a typically busy display to cruise to a 60-54 success against the Argentinian.

Conlan started brightly against Nicaraguan and former world title challenger Cardoza, but it developed into a close tussle.

Cardoza put his opponent on the canvas and finished strongly but the judges awarded the fight to Conlan on a 114-113, 115-113, 112-115 scorecard.

"He caught me high on the head, I had to ride the storm," Conlan told Box Nation.

"I could do this all week, although I don't want to do it all week. The crowd was brilliant."

The bill also included wins for Tyrone McKenna, Steven Ward, Con Sheehan, Phil Sutcliffe jnr, Marco McCullough and James Tennyson.

Adrian Dimas Garzon feels the force of a Paddy Barnes punch in the flyweight contest