The amateur star as emroiled in a competative fight with former European champion Silvio Olteanu and managed to edge a majortiy decision, picking up the WBO European flyweight strap in the process.
After ten rounds, two judges gave the fight to Barnes 97-94 and 97-93 which was all that mattered to the home crowd. A third judge saw it 95-95.
In the co-feature, lightweight Craig Evans dropped Stephen Ormond twice in the final round to rubberstamp a unanimous decision win after ten rounds.
In a messy affair, Evans had the better skill set to take the fight on the scorecards 99-89, 97-91 and 96-93.
Jono Carroll took the super-featherweight spoils in a classic encounter with Johnny Quigley in a definite contender for UK Fight of the Year.
The fight ebbed and flowed throughout, with the styles of the two competitors gelling from the off, resulting in a split decision drama at the climax.
In the end, Carroll’s two knockdowns in the second round proved to be the deciding factor as two judges carded 115-111 in his favor, with the other seeing it 114-113 to Quigley.
A rematch is already on everyone’s lips as Carrroll admitted afterwards he was expecting a tough twelve rounder with Quigley.
“I was surprised he went down two times because he’s tough. I knew it was gonna be a hard 12 rounds,” Carroll told BoxNation following his fringe IBF title win.
“I have the belt now. If he wants a rematch, maybe we can do that. But I said before this is a stepping stone for me,” he added.
In other action, welterweight Tyrone McKenna and cruiserweight Steven Ward both recorded four round triumphs respectively.
Hard-hitting super-welterweight Lewis Crocker blasted out Radoslav Mitev when the Bulgarian failed to beat the count following a crushing head shot in the second round, whilst Sean McGlinchey out-pointed Dan Blackwell 40-36 over four rounds. Both are now 2-0 in the pro ranks.
David Joyce made a successful pro debut at lightweight when stopping Gabor Kovacs in two rounds, whilst heavyweight Alex Dickinson did likewise when taking out Ferenc Zsalek in three.
