Terry Flanagan defends world lightweight crown as Jamie Dickens' title hopes ended

Manchester's Terry Flanagan is unbeaten in 31 professional fights

Terry Flanagan successfully defended his WBO world lightweight title with a battling points win over South African champion Mzonke Fana in Cardiff.

But Jamie Dickens' WBA world super-bantamweight title hopes were ended as his jaw was broken by top pound-for-pound fighter Guillermo Rigondeaux.

The undefeated Cuban's huge left hook in the second forced Dickens to retire as Rigondeaux kept his crown in style.

Flanagan had to rely on the judges to win a unanimous decision.

Guillermo Rigondeaux is widely considered to be one of the world's top pound-for-pound boxers

The Englishman maintained his unbeaten record as all three judges agreed a 120-106 points success to ensure Flanagan earned a 31st successive win.

Durable Fana rallied after a fourth-round knockdown from a huge left hook but Flanagan's class ensured a third title defence, the second in a row decided on points.

The 27-year-old failed to impress in his defeat of Derry Mathews and he was rocked by a crafty veteran as Fana's forehead cut Flanagan's cheek in the fourth.

But he overcame that setback and now the man known as "Turbo" will hope for an all-Manchester unification clash with city rival Anthony Crolla, the WBA world lightweight champion, who fights Jorge Linares in September.

It is back to the drawing board for Dickens, though, after this step up in class against a fighter ranked fifth in Ring Magazine's latest pound-for-pound rankings.

"I'm not the best, but I'm the most complete," Rigondeaux said afterwards.

"I ripped his jaw out. All those guys that want their jaws ripped out, I'm here!

"Not 100 of those guys add up to 1 of me. I want hard fights. People make it boring [against me] once they feel my power."