After the heated war of words that preceded this long-awaited fight it Nathan Cleverly who had the last shout, with a majority decision victory over the previously undefeated challenger, Liverpool's Tony Bellew.
The home crowd at the Echo Arena Liverpool backed Bellew to the hilt and were longing to see him land the WBO light heavyweight crown.
And if wishes won matches Bellew would have walked it but in the end the judges scores told a different story.
From the start of the contest both men battled to dominate the middle of the ring in what was a very fast paced bout,with both boxers landing well on the inside.
Bellew made an impressive start to the second, landing a number of sweet shots to stun Cleverly, but the latter recovered well and even taunted his opponent.
The third was a scrappy, jabbing battle and by now it was clear how evenly this pair were matched.
Bellew impressed with neat combinations and faster gloves than were perhaps expected.
But soon the Scouser's face was starting to show signs of swelling despite him out-punching the Welshman in the fourth.
While Bellew was throwing a lot of punched to the head and body, Cleverly was actually slipping a lot of this work, yet not throwing a lot of punches in return, as though he was satisfied to hang in and tire his opponent.
By the fifth the pair were trading blows to the torso and when Bellew pressed Cleverly against the ropes, there was a flurry of hard-hitting shots that made there mark.
Then it was Cleverly who spun the his counterpart and landed a bad low blow.
After the referee gave Bellew a moment to recover it was again all Cleverly, with the champion winning the battle of punches at the end.
Both men returned to close fighting in the sixth, with rally after rally of bodyblows being exchanged.
By now Cleverly seemed fresher. The hard the pace was starting to take a real toll on the local boy and despite the rousing cheers from the partisan crowd he was often on the back foot.
In the seventh it descended into a war of attrition, both men trading round after round of punches to the body and head.
By now Bellew had rallied and was able to take the fight to Cleverly.
Then roles were revered in the eighth with Cleverly was landing cleaner blows and outworking Bellew in the close flurries.
The ninth was a proper boxing match with Bellew distinguishing himself through classy combinations of footwork and punches - coming forward and taking the battle to Cleverly.
Again in the tenth Bellew appeared very active but Cleverly was more the accurate.
In the final minute Bellew landed two big right-handers as he pinned Cleverly against the ropes to deafening cheers from the ecstatic crowd.
Cleverly's legs juddered for a moment, but he kept to his feet and doggedly carried on.
In the eleventh Cleverly was again taking the fight to the challenger, moving with accomplished footwork and jabbing remorselessly.
Bellew came forward, trying again to land the big one but without success.
Cleverly stopped moving in the final minute and the two men went head to head, trading punches to the head and body.
The champion applied a final volley of headshots, uppercuts and body blows in the last twenty seconds.
In the twelfth and final round the both came out sensing it was all to play for and many hard punches were making their mark.
Perhaps Bellew's shots were harder yet Cleverly was more accurate frenetic.
Towards the end Cleverly kept coming forward while Bellew seemed to be played-out and bereft of ideas and they traded a few punches to close the round.
It was a close call with one judge calling in a draw at 114-114 and the other two making Cleverly the winner with 116-113, 117-112.
mark atherton, merseyside around 7 months, 1 week ago