Mark Dickinson, 8-1 (2 KOs), will travel home to Country Durham with the English super middleweight title belt safely packed away in his bag after battling his way to a hard fought ten round decision over Reece Farnhill, 11-1 (4 KO) in Altrincham.

In the evening’s main event, 2024 Olympian, Pat Brown, will make his professional debut against Argentina’s Federico Grandone. DAZN are streaming the event globally.

Farnhill is an aggressive, battle hardened fighter who has proven his worth on the small hall circuit.

In November 2023 he collected the Central Area title by beating Nicolie Campbell and followed that up by knocking out Northern Area champion, Adam Hepple in the fourth round of a wild brawl. He won the English title by outfighting the tough Ryszard Lewicki last October.

Last summer, Dickinson travelled to Japan to take part in the ill-fated middleweight Prizefighter tournament and although he lost a decision to Kazuto Takesako, the 25 year-old from County Durham performed well in his first ten round fight and clearly benefitted from the whole experience.

The two didn’t have to look too hard to find each other.

Dickinson looked strong in his first fight at 168lbs but his quick jab was the most eye-catching aspect of the early stages and he continually caught Farnhill as the 27 year old from Clithroe moved forwards. Farnhill did manage to initiate a couple of exchanges but was beaten to the punch and countered regularly by a sharp Dickinson left hook to head and body.

Aware that he needed to get close, Farnhill upped the tempo but although he succeeded in prolonging some exchanges, he still shipped some punishment himself and emerged from one with a bad cut over his right eye.

Farnhill is used to battling through tough moments and the blood streaming down his face didn’t stop him from being the aggressor. By the fourth, Dickinson’s jab was less of a weapon and the two were spending more and more time at close quarters but whilst it may now have been a Farnhill-type fight, Dickinson’s short, snappy bursts were doing much more damage.

In round five, Dickinson exploded into an attack that forced Farnhill to give ground and he opened the sixth with a hard, well timed right hand. Farnhill struggled to keep up when Dickinson cut loose and as he slowed, the difference in hand speed became clearer and clearer.

The champion’s eye was a mess as the seventh round wore down but rather than backing away, he dug in and let both hands go. Dickinson was more than happy to exchange and the pair traded until he bell ended the action. Farnhill was the more active fighter during a quieter eighth.

Dickinson clever sucked the drama out of the fight in the final two rounds. Farnhill was just unable to build any real momentum and when he did, Dickinson was still sharp enough to make him pay for his aggression.

The fight went to the scorecards and Dickinson was awarded a hard fought but clear unanimous decision. The scores were 99-92, 98-92 and 98-93.

In the first fight of the main card, William Crolla, 8-0 (6 KOs), outpointed Emmanuel Zion, 6-4 (3 KOs) over six rounds at super welterweight.

Last week, Manchester’s Crolla told The Ring that he believes that he has what it takes to be right at the forefront of Manchester’s boxing resurgence.

Before stepping into the ring with Zion, the super welterweight had recorded six consecutive knockouts with five of them coming inside the opening round.

Wisely, the southpaw adopted a more circumspect approach against Zion. Crolla wasn’t exactly cautious but he did have a look at the confident Londoner.

Zion was expected to provide Crolla with a step up in opposition and so it proved. He was resilient when Crolla did find the mark and landed a couple of accurate counter shots.

In the third, Crolla began to find the mark. He suddenly found his range and timing and scored with a solid left which definitely got Zion’s attention and a right hand also registered.

Zion tried to turn the tide in the fourth but Crolla played the role of counterpuncher well, scoring with nice shots as he edged away. Undeterred, Zion continued to press forward in the fifth and landed a clean right hand as Crolla was given some real questions to answer for the first time in his career. Buoyed by the flashes of success, Zion continued to push and got the better of the sixth round as Crolla tired.

Crolla just about deserved the 58-57 decision he was awarded.

Conner Tudsbury, 2-0 (1 KO), rounded out the ‘Before The Bell’ section of Matchroom’s Next Gen show from Altrincham’s Planet Ice and the light heavyweight hope continued his unbeaten start to his career by outpointing Robbie Connor, 3-5-2, over six rounds.

Tudsbury and Connor are old amateur rivals and immediately got down to business. The languid, relaxed Connor popped out a jab and used the ring whist the menacing Tudsbury kept his hands up and and attacked in bursts behind his own jab.

Connor wasn’t active enough to win the rounds but his style kept Tudsbury guessing and he managed to frustrate the Manchester based fighter who fell short with his jab and regularly found himself cleverly tied him up when he came close.

Tudsbury tried to up the tempo in the fifth and momentarily had Connor looking disorganised wit a hard right hand which he followed with a left hook but the Scotsman quickly regained his composure and settled back in behind his jab.

After six rounds, Tudsbury was awarded a 60-54 victory.

Tudsbury’s debut ended in quick fashion but this was a real welcome to professional boxing and he will have learned plenty from his night’s work.

Taylor Bevan, 3-0 (3 KOs), made it three from three with a first round stoppage of the outgunned Ales Makovec. 5-4-1 (3 KOs).

The 24 year old super middleweight has made an eye catching start to his career and added another explosive finish to his highlight reel by flattening the Czech visitor with devastating left uppercut. Bevan softened Makovec up with a long jab and accurate straight right hand before finding the fight ending shot at 2.19 of the opening round.

Liam Taylor, 28-2-1 (14 KOs), remained on course for his mandatory shot at British welterweight champion, Conah Walker, by comfortably beating Jamie Stewart, 4-11-4 over six rounds.

Stewart made an aggressive start but as well as being a sharper boxer, Taylor is a powerful puncher and he soon pushed Stewart on to the back foot where he scored with nice short uppercuts and an accurate left hook to the body.

Stewart’s aggression and leaky defence made for an entertaining spectacle but he came out second best in almost every exchange. He survived after being pinned against the ropes for a sustained period in the third but the assault seemed to sap his ambition and Taylor dominated the rest of the fight from range, using an accurate jab and some accurate flurries to head and body.

Taylor won each of the six rounds and left with a 60-54 decision.

Having not boxed for a year, the Middleton based fighter will be happy to have got some useful rounds under his belt and shed some ring rust before taking on the aggressive Walker.