Donovan Smillie was spurred on to victory at Pennington's by personal tragedy.

Bradford middleweight Smillie dedicated his latest success to former amateur boxer Shaun Durkin, who died recently.

A heaving 1,400 crowd - the biggest since the Ingles brought Sunday afternoon shows back to the city - stood in silence while the bell was rung ten times in respect.

Smillie outpointed Birmingham's plucky Patrick Cito and said: "I remember Shaun boxed at my amateur gym with Bradford Police Boys.

"I saw him in the pub not long ago and sold him a ticket for this because he was getting back into boxing. But then last week I heard the terrible news that he had died suddenly.

"I felt it was right to do something for him and that's why we had the silence. I'm glad I won for him, rest in peace Shaun."

Smillie is eyeing a step up in class in the new year and had no intention of hanging around against Cito.

He came roaring out the blocks from the opening bell, pummelling shots to the head and body like a man possessed.

After a minute's bombardment, referee Howard Foster called time-out and pulled Smillie aside to calm him down.

"I just went for it in the first round," he said. "I think I went a bit crazy but the referee told me to cool it which I did."

Cito was lucky to see off the round as Smillie jumped all over him. The bell could not come soon enough for the Birmingham fighter.

Having survived that onslaught, Cito slowly weathered the storm as the frantic pace caught up with Smillie.

He came again in the later rounds but Cito went on the defensive. Smillie stalked him round the ring in the final two minutes, trying to take him out with an uppercut but had to settle for a convincing distance win.

It was a cracking seven-fight bill and the best of several close tussles was the draw between West Bowling cruiserweight Nathan Joseph and Norwich's Earl Ling.

Joseph was back in action for the first time since dislocating his shoulder at Barnsley in May. It was also his first outing with the Ingles in his corner rather than Chris Aston.

He had plenty of noisy backing but found the experienced Ling was prepared to stand and trade, giving as good as he got.

It was a tough fight to call with both boxers enjoying spells on top but Joseph thought he had done enough when he opened up a cut beside Ling's right eye. Joseph probed away at it and blood was trickling down the side of Ling's face in the final round but the referee did not ask for a closer look.

The 58-58 draw was the first on Joseph's record and he was upset at the verdict.

Trainer Brendan Ingle said: "I thought he won it by about a round.

"Nathan hasn't got a mark on him while the other fella's nose was bust and his eye was cut. "Nathan did the damage on him while blocking and smothering a lot of his shots."

Joseph said: "I was hitting him with a lot of good shots in the fourth and fifth rounds.

"The ref should have had a look at him then because there was blood pouring out of his face."