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Brave Kirstie Bavington beaten by Lauren Price in historic British title fight

Kirstie Bavington’s bid to become the first-ever women’s British champion ended in brave defeat to Lauren Price.

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The Pensnett fighter threw everything she had at the Olympic gold medallist but could not make any headway in their historic middleweight contest at Birmingham’s Resorts World Arena on Saturday night.

Price, who won gold at Toyko 2020, underlined her standing as one of the best female fighters in the world with a dominant display, taking every round on all three judges’ scorecards.

Yet Bavington can still take huge credit for her performance. There was little the 30-year-old did not try over the course of the fight but nothing could throw Price off track.

Bavington, controversially stripped of her European title after losing to Canada’s Kandi Wyatt, went into the fight knowing a win had the potential to change her life and began in aggressive fashion, looking to rough Price up.

But the Welsh fighter took it in her stride and grew stronger as the fight progressed, catching her opponent with several fierce shots in the closing rounds.

Bavington was one of three Black Country boxers in action and her defeat followed wins for Ben Whittaker and Tyler Denny.

The former announced his return to the ring after nine months out through injury with an emphatic third round stoppage of Scotland’s Jordan Grant in their light-heavyweight contest.

It was the second stoppage win of the Olympic silver medallist’s career and took his record to 3-0.

Whittaker had promised to bring the hurt and was good to his word, first sending Grant to the canvas in the second with a powerful straight right.

With the Scot’s right eye almost totally closed, it was a little surprising to see him emerge for the third but the towel came in after just 13 seconds after a left had again sent him tumbling to the floor.

Earlier in the night Denny had continued his excellent run with a split decision win over McGowan to claim the EEU middleweight title.

The 31-year-old Rowley Regis ace has every chance of fighting for the main European crown next after his fourth straight win, though he did not have it all his own way against McGowan, who briefly had Denny in trouble in the eighth after landing with a powerful left.

In a tight contest, it was Denny who seemed to land the cleaner, harder shots more regularly yet the margin of victory was narrow, two judges awarding him the contest 96-94 and the third seeing McGowan the winner 97-93.

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