ANB ARENA, SAUDI ARABIA -- Hamzah Sheeraz's 15-fight knockout streak is over, his world championship dreams put on ice after an anticlimactic ending on the scorecards against WBC middleweight titleholder Carlos Adames, whose body work and pressure ultimately paid dividends en route to a surprising 12-round split draw.

115-114 Sheeraz, 118-110 Adames and 114-114 were the scorecards, leaving both disappointed not to have emerged the victor in a tactical contest which threatened plenty between two heavy-handed punchers but never truly caught fire.

Sheeraz (21-0-1, 17 KOs) found a home behind his jab in a predictably nervy opening round, Adames (24-0-1, 18 KOs) responded by manipulating his torso and angling off trying to keep himself difficult to hit clean, connecting on body shots.

Sheeraz was still trying to find his range at this point, though countering whenever the champion edged too close and warming the crowd after landing a three-punch combination in centre ring. Adames stalked him around in round three, looking to keep them at a safe distance so the 25-year-old's physical advantages wouldn't be as effective, albeit without much punch output himself.

Early in the fourth, he landed a sneaky overhand right but allowed Sheeraz too much space and time to pick his own counters, subtle though scoring shots all the same as their chess match continued, the challenger circling out of danger when possible.

Adames' aggressive tendencies were again evident to start the fifth, though he couldn't slow Sheeraz down. His powerful forays forward were either hitting gloves or air, until the final minute where Sheeraz held his feet and they exchanged in the pocket.

Just as the champion was enjoying some success, he was pushed back with the round ending thanks to more Sheeraz combinations, demonstratively responding with a call as if to say, is that all you've got?

After being ticked off early in the sixth for his punches straying low, he had more success set up by a three-punch flurry downstairs as shouts of Hamzah accompanied the challenger's response, one coming too late in a better round for the Dominican.

Into the second-half they went, Adames starting to open up more though the 30-year-old accepted it'd be a double-edged sword, pinged backwards by the jab and knowingly unable to fully let loose for fear of being caught clean. An uppercut he didn't see with 20 seconds left in the round typified that approach, before the referee belatedly warned him early in the eighth for punching low.

He responded by upping the tempo, eating a straight right for his troubles in another tension-packed stanza where Sheeraz's movement unsettled the champion, unable to stop him from boxing on his own terms.

Adames' deposits downstairs had clearly done damage, though he continued straying low and Sheeraz made referee Hector Afu know about it in another nip-and-tuck round without a noteworthy punch.

Warned after tagging the 25-year-old low twice, Sheeraz's corner told him to be more purposeful with output while his promoter, Queensberry chief Frank Warren, urged his man to throw uppercuts before the tenth.

Both were perhaps guilty of letting that round pass by without a round-sealing sequence, Sheeraz's jab enough to stymie the champion from unloading in close proximity.

The crowd noise swelled for Sheeraz as he stung Adames in the first minute of the eleventh, his corner encouraging fans to maintain their noise level during a potentially pivotal round - letting go with an overhand right in the last half-minute as Adames stabbed low.

Sheeraz missed with one, but landed a clubbing shot with his second in a sequence as the challenger's corner waved him forward, Adames teeing off combos to try and pierce the high guard.

An uppercut did exactly that with 65 seconds left, though Sheeraz took it well and countered beautifully to momentarily spin the champion as the arena's decibel level increased once more. He finished strong, though neither could truly be certain heading to the scorecards and so it proved.