Caoimhin Agyarko drew a line under more than 10 months out of the ring with a shutout points win over former sparring partner Grant Dennis in Dublin.

Agyarko has not boxed since his 10-round decision over Lukasz Maciec in July 2022 after a hand injury forced him out of a slot on Katie Taylor’s undercard in London in October.

The promising middleweight has since joined forces with new trainer Joe McNally at Liverpool’s Rotunda ABC and this was their first fight together.

He made a methodical start to the fight and Dennis, the 18-4 man from Kent, was moving well, not allowing the favourite to really pin him down. The pair knew each other well from sparring sessions together in 2020 and it showed.

Even so, Agyarko, 26, was having a lot of success with the straight right hand without ever really appearing to hurt his opponent.

In the 7th round, Dennis landed his best shot of the fight, a left hook, which seemed to stiffen Agyarko’s legs momentarily. But he regained his composure quickly and finished the round well on top.

The eighth was more of the same but Agyarko appeared to slow down in rounds nine and 10 as he closed out the dominant points victory without any further trouble. It was no surprise when all three judges returned scores of 100-90.

Agyarko had emerged as a promising puncher in the early stages of his career but this is his third consecutive decision victory and he will be hoping for a more explosive performance next time out after shaking off this ring rust here.

Before that, Thomas Carty became the first ever BUI Celtic heavyweight champion by seeing off Scotland’s Jay McFarlane in just two rounds.

Southpaw Carty is well known for his sparring exploits with the likes of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte but now has his sights set firmly on making his own name.

And he rose to the occasion in the biggest fight of his career here, producing a punch-perfect display to drop and stop his 25-year-old opponent.

Carty, a home favourite from Dublin, dropped the big visitor twice en route to the stoppage, which came just two seconds before the bell to end the second round.

“I think it was punch-perfect,” Carty said afterwards. “We knew we wanted to keep it long because he would look to get inside and throw an overhand right. But I did what I needed to do and got him out of there.”

Earlier, Andy Lee-trained starlet Paddy Donovan also claimed the biggest win of his career to date on his debut for Matchroom.

As reported by Boxing Scene this week, Donovan has now officially ended his contract with Top Rank and is a free agent. But the Limerick man was handed the opportunity to appear on this huge bill by promoter Eddie Hearn, who may yet sign him to a long-term deal.

And Donovan did not disappoint, systematically breaking down his fellow southpaw Sam O’Maison before the Englishman’s corner threw in the towel in the sixth of their scheduled eight.

Donovan is now 11-0 (8) and desperate to generate some much needed momentum after previously managing just three fights in the last 21 months.

In the first fight of the night, promising flyweight Maisey Rose Courtney got claimed a 58-57 decision from referee Padraig O’Reachtagain after six entertaining rounds with Kate Radomska.