Brad Foster gets decision win over James Beech as live boxing returns behind closed doors in the UK

Boxing returned under the lights of the BT Sport Studio on Friday night.
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Tony Mogan10 July 2020

Brad Foster defended his British and Commonwealth super-bantamweight titles against James Beech Jr as live boxing returned to the UK from the BT Sport Studios.

Four months on from the sport being brought to a halt due to the coronavirus outbreak, it enjoyed a promising night back under the lights in Stratford.

With strict Covid-19 measures in place throughout fight week and on the night itself, Frank Warren's Queensberry Promotions held the first of five cards behind closed doors with young, British talent taking their opportunity to impress an audience starved of action.

In the show's main event, Foster and Beech fought out a fiercely-contested battle that went the distance, with the former securing a clean sweep of the judges' scorecards to retain his titles.

Earlier on the bill, Hamzah Sheeraz defended his WBO European super-welterweight title in a superb display against Scotland's Paul Kean.

The Ilford fighter had stopped his previous four opponents and looked to be on the way to a swift finish when he dropped his opponent with a stinging short right early in the first round.

Kean made the count but failed to trouble the 21-year-old who dominated the contest.

After seeing their man absorb plenty of damage, Kean's corner pulled him out at the start of the seventh with Sheeraz extending his professional record to 11-0.

Heavyweight prospect David Adeleye scored his second professional win after stopping Matt Gordon in his contest.

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The Ladbroke Grove-raised fighter, who was brought out to Las Vegas to spar with Tyson Fury ahead of his world title fight against Deontay Wilder in February, ended the bout in the second round with some huge shots in the corner forcing the stoppage.

In the first bout of the night, lightweight prospect Mark Chamberlain extended his record to 6-0 with a win over Stu Greener.

After waiting 118 days for live boxing in the UK, Chamberlain ended its first contest back in just 55 seconds, blitzing his opponent inside the opening round.

Dorin Krasmaru, a regular sparring partner of rising heavyweight star Daniel Dubois, extended his professional record to 3-0 with victory over Phil Williams.

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