Jeamie 'TKV' Tshikeva insists that his mental strength was the deciding factor in Saturday night’s bruising British heavyweight title win over Frazer Clarke.

Viewers who tuned in to the BBC's first primetime broadcast of professional boxing for over 20 years were treated to 12 brutal rounds of action, before the 32-year-old Londoner was awarded a deserved split decision victory.

Back in April, TKV boxed David Adeleye for the vacant belt. The fight was in the balance when, in the sixth round, TKV was controversially dropped by a shot that landed after the referee Ron Kearney called break. He was stopped moments later.

This time, he took matters into his own hands. TKV produced an excellent display of inside fighting to break down Clarke.

After calmly weathering a fast start from a fired up Clarke, TKV appeared to have taken a grip of matters but put an exclamation point on his performance with a stunning 11th round assault that left many wondering whether the 2020 Olympic bronze medallist should have been allowed to answer the bell for the final round.

Clarke (9-2-1, 7 KOs) survived to hear the judges scorecards, but it was TKV (9-2, 5 KOs) who had his hand raised.

"It feels amazing. There's no words that could describe this feeling," TKV said at the post fight press conference.

"It's an amazing feeling. I've worked hard to get here and now we're here. I'm happy, over the moon."

TKV weighed in at a career-high 264.9 pounds for the fight and whilst the extra bulk might have helped him stand strong during some hard inside exchanges and absorb some heavy, clean shots it also meant he had to carry that weight for 36 long minutes.

By the middle rounds, TKV’s quick hands and accurate left hook had given him a measure of control in the fight but, pushed on by his home crowd, Clarke refused to buckle.

With the title in the balance, TKV found it within himself to dig that little bit deeper during the championship rounds. No fighter can predict exactly how they will react when finding themselves caught up in the kind of fight TKV was in, but he revealed he had spent months mentally preparing himself for that very moment.

"You got to be strong up there," TKV said pointing to his head.

"Despite the training that we do. I do a lot of work up here. I knew that this fight was going to be hard and once it did start to get hard, went back to my mentality. I went back to telling myself that I can get through this. When I did that, I got through the fight. So, thank God, I did the training up there and here [clenching his fist]."

Clarke will need time to recover before even considering the possibility of a rematch but TKV could barely admire the beautiful Lonsdale belt before people were asking whether he would grant his rival a return.

"Yeah, of course," he said. "I mean we can always have a rematch. It depends if the fans and promoter want it, let's see."