Wolverhampton fighter Dean Harrison missed out on being crowned English light welterweight champion despite flooring Nigel Wright in their title fight.

Harrison conceded a unanimous points decision after 10 gruelling rounds of give-and-take action last night in in Houghton-le-Spring.

The 26-year-old connected with a sweetly-timed left hook in the dying seconds of the seventh round to put Wright on the deck for the first time ,in a 29-fight professional career spent swapping punches with the top 10 stone boxers in Britain.

Had the punch landed earlier in the session, Harrison may have been able to force the stoppage, but the bell went as soon as Wright hit the floor and that came to his rescue

The Black Country boxer went on to finish the fight well, closing Wright down to work him over with bursts of hooks and body shots on the inside, but had lost too many of the early rounds and that was reflected on the judges scorecards.

At the final bell, the slick southpaw from Crook was ahead by scores of 97-93 and 98-92, but manager Errol Johnson believes Harrison’s performance is proof that he can hold his own with the leading domestic fighters.

His fighter was hoping to clinch another crack at the British championship, having been beaten by Paul McCloskey when he accepted the chance to challenge for the belt at short notice last year.

Johnson said: “Wright has been ranked in the top three or four in the country for several years and Dean showed he can compete at that level.

“Dean boxed well. He showed a better defence and thought about his boxing more, but he didn’t throw enough punches.

“He looked a lot better when he stepped it up after the knock down.”

But, for much of the first half of the fight, Harrison struggled to get close. Wright was able to stand off and beat him to the punch with solid, straight punches.

Harrison kept attacking – showing “awesome courage” according to Sky Sports commentator Jim Watt – and from the sixth he had more success with body shots as the pace slowed.

As the fight wore on, the rounds became closer, but Wright had banked enough of the early sessions to stay in front on the cards.

He said: “Dean was strong and tough and that was the first time I’ve been off my feet in my life. I didn’t think it could happen.

“It was a terrific shot.”

On the undercard, Birmingham-based cruiserweight Hastings Rasani almost pulled off a shock.

Rasani was paired with David Dolan, who has twice challenged Rob Norton for the British and Commonwealth belts, and going into the final session of the six-rounder, his hefty right-hand wallops had the scores level on the referee’s card.

But the 36-year-old was outworked in the last round and beaten 58-57 on points.

By Matt Bozeat