A last-second knockdown ultimately cost Jessie Vargas the victory in a closely-fought contest at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago.
The former world champion mixed it for the duration with Thomas Dulorme and seemed on the verge of a win.
Despite being cut from headbutts early on, Vargas gained his composure in the mid-rounds and went on to drop Dulorme hard in the tenth.
Dulorme recovered well to take the next round and was able to gain a draw by putting Vargas on the floor with seconds remaining.
All Vargas had to do was stand-off, although his fighter nature didn’t allow it. The pair may now do it again in 2019.
MAIN TV CARD
Artur Beterbiev retained his IBF light-heavyweight title but suffered a first career knockdown in the process.
Challenger Callum Johnson fought fire with fire from the off and was put down hard at the end of the first.
The Russian may have felt a little less pressure as Johnson was hurt, although the Briton came back and dropped Beterbiev in the second.
Beterbiev took stock in the third and still managed to rock Johnson before a solid right to the temple ended the argument in the fourth.
Gavin McDonnell succumbed to a huge onslaught in the tenth round during a second failed world title bid.
The twin brother of former world title holder Jamie, Gavin was challenging Danny Roman for the WBA Super-bantamweight belt.
After a slow start, McDonnell was coming back into the contest in the second half, only to be stopped in his tracks.
Seven rounds down midway through the bout, McDonnell had won the last two before Roman caught him.
McDonnell was clearly hurt and a relentless Roman finished the job in the tenth.
Prior to the main event, 300lbs plus heavyweight Jarrell Miller blasted out Tomas Adamek in two rounds of a mismatch.
UNDERCARD
Becoming Chicago’s first ever Women’s world champion, Jessica McCaskill put her loss to Katie Taylor firmly behind her.
In an entertaining contest, McCaskill dethroned Erica Farias 98-92, 97-93 and 96-94 on the scorecards.
Anthony Sims Jr. once again impressed as the slick light-heavyweight moved to 16-0.
Showing some awesome movement at times, Sims was in cruise control for most of the contest as he broke down Mario Aguilar.
The end came in the sixth when Aguilar was dropped with hurtful shots and failed to get to his feet for the count of ten.
Described as a ‘promising heavyweight’ when signed by Eddie Hearn earlier this year, Nkosi Solomon was tipped for big things.
The 23 year-old was added to the very first Matchroom USA card to showcase his skills in Chicago.
But it all came crashing down against hometown fighter Matt Cameron. ‘Big Cam’ battered and dropped Solomon in the third and fourth rounds of a messy slugfest.
Looking out on his feet at times, Solomon tried to rally at the end but lost 39-33 on all three cards.
It’s back to the drawing board after a shocking loss for Solomon.
Following Solomon’s defeat, Nikita Ababiy couldn’t afford to slip-up and more than made up for the early Matchroom setback.
Ababiy clubbed Jake Henriksen out in just 28 seconds.
Another debutant, welterweight Reshat Mati made it two from three with a third round knockout of Adan Ahumada.
