SOLIHULL, England — Peter McGrail overcame the wily awkwardness of replacement opponent Ionut Baluta to win a close majority decision to keep hold of his WBA international title at 122 pounds on the undercard of Galal Yafai vs. Francisco Rodriguez Jr in Birmingham.

The scores read 95-95, 97-93, 97-93 in favour of McGrail after an entertaining fight which was streamed live on DAZN.

McGrail was originally supposed to face Shabaz Masoud but the IBO junior featherweight champion pulled out of the fight after suffering an injury in training camp.

Baluta, known for pushing a frenetic pace and his come-forward style, stepped in. The Romanian had already shared the ring with two Everton Red Triangle fighters in Brad Strand and Andrew Cain, winning the first and losing the second, before accepting a clash with McGrail.

Having been granted the opportunity to secure a winning record against Paul Stevenson's stable, it was expected Baluta would come out on the front foot to try and force the issue, but it was his counter-punching which impressed in the early stages.

McGrail, however, would be the man to fish the 1st round stronger, landing a crisp counter left of his own to rock Baluta down to his boots.

Rounds 2 and 3 were more even but followed the same pattern, with McGrail on the front foot and Baluta looking to counter with little bursts of action from his back foot. It was McGrail's job to get the timing right, but landing clean consistently proved to be a task in itself in the 4th round.

In the 5th round, McGrail found a home for the left hand, landing one square on the chin of Baluta and rocking him back to the ropes as the Madrid-based fighter attempted to circle away from his opponent.

McGrail would sustain a cut to his right eye in the 6th round and Baluta's aggression increased after spotting the blood trickle down. His corner became more animated as the fight went into the 7th but McGrail continued to pile pressure on. However, Baluta's awkward style looked to be causing some real problems.

In the 9th round, McGrail connected with a straight one-two down the pipe which caught the attention of Baluta. But the visitor looked to be spurred on and continued to counter with flurries when McGrail set his feet. At the end of the round, McGrail landed a hard left of his own and after the bell, the pair squared up and went nose-to-nose.

The 10th and final round was all-action; both men aware that it was vital to win it with so many of the previous stanzas close and hard to call. Perhaps conscious their cheerleading could make a difference to the judges, Baluta's corner continued to celebrate and punch the air any time their man got near.

In the end, McGrail would be given the nod by majority decision after judge Bob Williams' 95-95 card and Leszek Jankowiak & Olena Pobyvailo's identical 97-93 cards.

Brown got his pro career off to a blistering start with an exciting 4th-round stoppage over Federico Grandone at the end of March.

And he continued the excitement with another TKO victory in Birmingham, halting Croatian Ivan Duka in just two rounds after landing a crushing left hook to the body before finishing with a left to the head.

Sale's Brown will be back in action in just two weeks' time against Lewis Oakford in a big step-up fight on the Jack Catterall-Harlem Eubank card in Manchester.

Ayton came into the bout with a glowing reputation built off an amateur career in which she was purported to have won over 300 fights across multiple fighting disciplines.

She's also known for her knockout power and it showed from the off, snapping opponent Sara Orszagi's head back numerous times before doing the same in the 2nd round.

It was in the 3rd round that Orszagi finally hit the canvas. Ayton landed a flush right down the pipe and did exactly the same once the Hungarian made it to her feet to score a thunderous stoppage victory.

Aaron Bowen rounded out the "Before The Bell" portion of tonight's Matchroom card in Birmingham, England by stopping the Ukraine's Mykola Vovk at middleweight.

Bowen (6-0, 4 KOs) was too active for the unorthodox Vovk (15-8, 9 KOs) who looked tired from the early stages and swayed around the ring.

Faced with little resistance, Bowen went route one and continued punching until the referee stopped the action at 2.22 of round 4.

Unbeaten super featherweight, Giorgio Visioli, punctuated a straightforward win over Argentina's Elias Federico Duguet by dropping the Argentinian with another of his trademark counter left hands.

Visioli (8-0, 6 KOs) has made a flawless start to his professional career but the exciting junior lightweight endured a frustrating seven rounds rounds with safety first Duguet (7-2-1, 2 KOs) who refused to engage or leave any openings for the 22 year-old to land the left hand which has accounted for a number of his early opponents.

An unhurried Visioli bided his time and racked up the rounds and was alert enough to capitalise when Duguet lost concentration for a split second.

Duguet made it to the final bell but Visiloi coasted to an 80-71 decision.

Ibraheem Sulaimaan took a significant step up in class against Brian Phillips but the promising junior lightweight wasted little time in making his mark on the tough Liverpudlian.

Sulaimaann got onto the attack from the first bell and Phillips struggled to cope with the rangy southpaw's variety and speed.

Phillips (12-5, 3 KOs) continued to plug away and eventually drew some of Sulaimaan's sting but 'The Spider' throws his shots from unorthodox angles and continued to catch Phillips regularly.

It was a perfect piece of matchmaking for Sulaimaann (8-0, 4 KOs) who was made to fight for every minute of every round of rhe woght rounder but throughly deserved the 80-72 decision he was awarded.

Hamza Uddin got the evening off to a flying start with an impressive stoppage of Leandro Jose Blanc at super flyweight.

Uddin (5-0, 2 KO) planted his left foot in the centre of the ring, daring Blanc (8-3, 3 KOs) to step to him. The Argentinian southpaw represented his country at the 2016 Olympics and was smart enough not to make any glaring mistakes but Uddin quickly began to find the mark with his left hand, particularly to the body.

The 21 year-old from Walsall has fast hands and hurt Blanc in the third with a left to the body and began to land more and more regularly with clean counter shots. Early in the seventh, Uddin cut loose with a series of well picked uppercuts and found a finish after just 37 seconds of the round.