Butler Earns WBA Bantamweight Shot

Last night, in Liverpool, Paul Butler moved a huge step nearer to challenging for the WBA bantamweight world title.

Butler was matched with his old adversary Stuart Hall in what was termed as a world title eliminator.

Going into the fight, Butler already held one win over Hall having beaten the boxer to become the IBF world bantamweight champion, back in June 2014.

In Liverpool, Butler repeated that win taking the verdict by a unanimous points decision with the judges scoring the bout:

? 118 ? 110

? 117 ? 110

and

? 118 ? 110

all in favour of Butler.

Although some of the early rounds were close, Butler utilised his exceptional ring movement and his jab to keep Hall at bay.

Hall did have some success in the fight but Butler was always the better man, on the night.

The win sees his professional record to 25-1 and he is now the mandatory challenger for the WBA bantamweight title, a belt currently held by the Doncaster fighter, Jamie McDonnell.