Louis Greene’s Commonwealth super welterweight title defence against Sam Gilley always looked like it had the potential to be a show stealer. So it proved.

Gilley (17-1, 8 KO’s) is the more classically correct of the two and started off sharp shooting and looking to dig in his pet left hook to the body. Greene (16-4, 10 KO’s) pressed forward in his usually relentless way. Greene doesn’t unload hundreds of punches but applies pressure with his feet until he gets close enough to let his hands go. Just as the first round ended he got close enough to stiffen Gilley’s legs with a short left hook.

Gilley attempted to take away Greene’s forward momentum in the second. He tried to take the centre of the ring and push Greene back and although he enjoyed enough success to take the round, he was working harder than he would ideally have liked. 

The battle lines were drawn. Greene appeared to have settled in for the long haul, grinding away and looking to close the distance while Gilley looked to keep the fight at arms length where he had a little more room to land his straighter shots and that sweeping left hook to the body. 

By the fifth, the fight was being fought at Gilley’s preferred range. Midway through the round it looked like Gilley suddenly felt Greene weaken slightly. He began to put his punches together and then touched Green with a right uppercut which hid the left hook to the body he put behind it. Greene dropped to a knee but made it back to his corner.

Sensibly, Gilley didn’t commit to an all out attack in the sixth. He got straight back to the tactics that earned him his success. Greene appeared to be struggling to get anything significant off but as the seventh round drifted away from him, he hurt Gilley with a pair of left hooks to give him a much needed foothold in the fight.

The tide began to turn. Greene landed another solid left hook early in the eighth and followed up with a clean left-right as Gilley went to the ropes. Greene was still taking shots but he was now embroiled in the kind of fight he relishes.

Gilley kept his hands moving in the tenth as Greene slowed down and although Greene landed a big right hand to open the eleventh, it had little effect on Gilley who seemed to have wrestled back control. 

The final round belonged to Greene. In a final attempt to keep his belt, he let everything go. Gilley felt some flush right hands but managed to hold Greene off and the pair traded until the final bell. 

The judges scorecards were unanimous - if a little wide - in Gilley’s favour. Victor Loughlin scored it 116-111, Bob Williams 117-110 and Terry O’Connor had it 118-110 for the new champion.