Peter McGrail boxed through early adversity to beat Rhys Edwards on the Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury undercard in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Edwards came in on five days’ notice to replace Dennis McCann after the European super-bantamweight champion failed a pre-fight drugs test.
The Welshman, who entered the contest with an undefeated 16-0 record, was in camp for a fight with Leon Woodstock on January 11 when he received the call.
Edwards accepted without hesitation and boxed his heart out in the Middle East.
But it wasn’t to be his night, with all three judges giving it to McGrail via unanimous decision by margins of 96-95, 96-94 and 96-94.
In the third round, McGrail’s chest was covered in claret after clashing heads with Edwards.
Luckily, the nick was on the side of his right eye so the blood didn’t compromise his vision too much, although it continually bled throughout the contest.
For ten rounds, both men went back and forth in an entertaining and close encounter.
McGrail got off to a good start, landing several fast flurries.
But as the fight wore on, Edwards began to gain a foothold in the contest with some eye-catching shots.
The DAZN broadcast felt Edwards had done enough to edge it yet McGrail got the nod.
McGrail will be relieved by the decision, as another defeat would have stunted his career severely.
In December last year, the Liverpudlian suffered a shock knockout loss to Ja’Rico O’Quinn in a fight he was well ahead in before the eventual stoppage.
McGrail had O’Quinn down in rounds two and four but the American turned the tide in dramatic fashion by detonating a fight-ending shot on McGrail’s chin in the fifth stanza.
Shortly after, McGrail got his career back on course with back-to-back wins over Marc Leach and Brad Foster – and has now extended his winning streak to three by beating Edwards.
Earlier in the night, Saudi prospect Mohammed Alakel kicked off proceedings with a wide points victory over Colombian journeyman Joshua Ocampo.
Fast-rising Ukrainians Daniel Lapin and Andrii Novytskyi then took to the ring and got their hands raised over the distance against Dylan Colin and Edgar Ramirez respectively.
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