Height and reach advantage gave the awkward Light Heavyweight Shakan Pitters the edge in a toughly contested bout that went the distance in Redditch as the Birmingham born unbeaten boxer won the Lonsdale Belt on all three of the judges’ scorecards.

Pittance, now 14 wins and no losses, was always favourite against Sugden who entered the ring with a 11-1-1 record. The former Kick Boxer from Newark beaten 118-111, 118-111 & 119-110 in a unanimous decision on all three counts and will now have to pick himself up after missing out on the vacant British title.

There was plenty of good moments for Sugden who got through on a couple of occasions but he was largely picked off at range by the 6ft6in Pittance who now looks like he could go on to big things inside the ring.

After the bout, 31 year old Pittance stated of his opponent “Chad was very game and I take my hat off to him. I kept it long and punished him as he came in. He was a very tough opponent but he didn’t trouble me. I wanted to keep things basic and it worked. I’m always learning and this was my first twelve-rounder. I’d give that performance a six or seven out of ten. It was a decent performance but I’m always improving.”

Sugden still only 26 was praised by his promoters Hennesy Sports as he gave a good showing on National TV with them stating “He may have fell short against a brilliant Shakan Pitters but Chad remains a fantastic competitor and his time will come.”

*Main image @HennessySports ring action from a toughly contested 12 rounds of boxing.