Last night at Ulster Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland, local man Martin Lindsay stepped up to the challenge during the biggest fight of his career by ripping the British Featherweight title from Scotland's Paul Appleby.

21 year old Appleby came into the bout unbeaten and with the reputation as one of the UK's top young fighters following his British title win over John Simpson and defense against Esham Pickering last year.

Lindsay had earned his shot at the featherweight crown by a shocking KO of former WBU kingpin Derry Matthews last year and the 26 year old had vowed not to disappoint his fans at Ulster Hall.

Once the bout began, Lindsay appeared to be the faster of the two combatants, beating the champion to the punch on most occasions. More...

British heavyweight Matt Skelton won the vacant European title last night with a tenth round stoppage of former beltholder Paolo Vidoz at the Pala Lido in Milan, Italy.

In a battle of aging heavyweights, 41 year old Skelton, 22-2 (19), rebounded from his failed bid to unseat WBA Champion Ruslan Chagaev in January with a characteristically vigorous effort to outwork the 38 year old Vidoz over the early rounds.

When the local hero finally started boxing, the skills that won Vidoz the Olympic Bronze Medal in 2000 were evident and the Italian seemed to be on his way to a points decision.

But Skelton never stopped trying and the sheer effort of fending off his mauling, wrestling style proved to be too much for Vidoz, who quit after nine rounds to hand the European title over to Skelton.

38 year old Gianluca Branco, 42-2-1 (22), continued his second reign as European Light Welter Champion, stopping Finnish challenger Juho Tolppola, 21-5-1 (9), in the ninth frame. More...

A good weekend of Continental boxing featured three European title fights and we kick off this report at Spodek, the largest indoor arena in Poland in the southern city of Katowice.

European Welterweight Champion Rafal "Braveheart" Jackiewicz, 33-8-1 (18), continued his amazing career transformation with a successful title defense against previously undefeated European Union, German and IBF Intercontinental titlist Jan Zaveck, 25-1 (14).

But it wasn't easy as the confident Slovenian challenger came to win and Jackiewicz had his hands full before pulling out a hard-fought split decision victory after twelve difficult rounds.

Jackiewicz's record stood at 12-7-1 (7) at the end of 2004 after having been thrown in with more experienced opponents such as Antonio Lauri, Ted Bami, Yuri Nuzhnenko, Michael Jennings and Jacek Bieleski but then the Minsk Mazowiecki born hard man went on a tear, going 19-1, losing only to excellent Italian boxer Giammario Grassellini by majority decision.

This earned Jackiewicz a shot at European Champ Jackson Osei Bonsu, a murderous puncher who was on the verge of a WBC title shot. Jackiewicz drew on his long experience to keep Bonsu off balance and expose holes in the Belgian's defense to pull out a tough points decision. More...

At the weigh-in yesterday in Halle, Germany, WBA Middleweight Champion Felix Sturm measured up with challenger Randy Griffin of America ahead of their rematch tonight at Gerry Weber Stadium.

Both men looked perfectly fit and trim but I give the weighin procedure on points to Griffin, who came in at 72.4 kg / 159.5 lb with a very confident look about him. More...