Shock title loss for Little

He was defeated on points by Sheffield's Sam Matkin in a vain bid to win the Central Area super-lightweight title at the Devonshire House Hotel, Liverpool.

Referee Howard Foster shocked Little and his team as well as many in the crowd at the Merseyside venue by giving the verdict to Matkin by 96 points to 95.

Several of the Little camp were left aggrieved at the decision as they thought their man had prevailed by three or four rounds.

However, the man that matters, the third man in the ring, saw it differently and Matkin had the belt strapped around the waist, but he also bore the facial scars of a hard night's graft.

Little had not been at his best, but still thought he had done enough to prevail.

It was his first defeat, having won all of his first 15 professional contests.

Little had stepped down to super-lightweight after previously campaigning at welter where he won the English and Central Area belts, only to vacate them when deciding to switch his career in another direction.

Reflecting on the verdict, Little's trainer Alan Levene said: "It was a strange decision. We move on."

Elsewhere on the Merseyside card, Kirkham heavyweight Bill Hodgson made it two wins out of two with a third round stoppage of Hungarian Atitla Gyen.

Hodgson decked the Hungarian twice before arbiter Foster moved in to the halt the bout.