There was some big battles on the ‘Unfinished Business’ show organised by Unity Kickboxing promotions at the New Era.
Unity is a combination of three local gyms – Fite Right in Rishton, Billy Battrick’s Fit to Fight gym and Ian Longson’s East Lancs Predators.
Gary Smith, coach at Fite Right said: "We have all got together to try and unify our talent and give the North West kickboxing scene the recognition it deserves.
"We had five title bouts all sanctioned by the WFCA (World Full Contact Association) and nine undercard fights. The quality of the fights was fantastic."
The first of the title fights was the girls 35kg interclub fight which Fit to Fight’s Jordan Cain won on the judges scorecard over Chloe Curtis from the Kokoro Gym in Accrington.
The next title fight was a WFCA (World Full Contact Association) boys junior English title also at 35kg and Brandon Hargreaves (Fit to Fight) was crowned champion with victory over Sam Babb (Brian Nelsons, Ellesmere Port).
Another title fight was a 70kg WFCA Northern Area title fight which Amar Ashgar (Fit To Fight) narrowly won against Andy Parkinson (Alf Loves Gym, Bacup).
"This fight was a really close," said Gary. "Amar has an all-out, go forward style which is tough to deal with and on the night it was just too much for Parkinson."
Callum Ramsey (Ace Kickboxing, Blackburn) fought for the next title which was a 63kg WFCA English title.
Gary continued: "Callum had originally been matched against Josh O’Connor from Bacup but two days before the fight Josh had to withdraw on medical grounds leaving Callum with no opponent.
"Due to the persistence of Billy Battrick, he managed to find a stand-in called Connor Quinn from Birmingham.
"Connor was a massive underdog but put up a real fight and it went the distance with Callum narrowly coming out on top."
Next up was a Girls 52kg WFCA British title fight which Bacup’s Chloe Love won on stoppage over Frankie Jones (Brian Nelson).
The headline fight was Fight Rite’s Jordan Riley against Lee Preston (Fit To Fight) in a local re-match.
This fight has been a long time coming and a previous fight between the two saw Preston handed his first defeat in seven fights against Riley who was having his first fight last year in Telford.
Gary explained: "Lee is far more experienced than Jordan but what Jordan lacks in experience he more the makes up for with talent. This fight was easily the fight of the night. "
The fight was a WFCA 76kg English title fight over five rounds.
Riley was stronger in the first three rounds but Preston came back to win the fourth.
¿Both battled hard in the fifth and the decision was up to the judges.
One judge scored the fight a draw and the other two judges giving the decision to Riley.
"This was a really good fight and the 115 fans who came to support Jordan did their job well," said Gary.
The undercard fights were also well-matched with some outstanding youngsters coming through such as young Max Curtis from Kokoro.
The other fighters from Fight Rite were 94kg novice Tom Smith who won a close split decision against Andy Spencer from Preston followed by Neal Warburton 64kg against Danny Mallen (East Lancs Predators).
Gary added: "Neal and Danny’s fight was a war with Danny knocking Neal down in the second round. Neal got up and showed real heart taking the fight to Danny.
"Danny won on points but what a fight from two really promising kickboxers for the future."
