Shabaz Masoud below par but eases to points victory

The 23-year-old, fighting out of Wellington Boxing Academy, picked up a 60-54 points decision over Stefan Nicolae on Saturday, on the undercard to the Midlands Mayhem event at Arena Birmingham..

Stoke-born Masoud, known as 'The Maverick' won all six rounds against the Romanian who looked to unsettle the exciting prospect throughout the bout.

Nicolae had a poor professional record of three wins and 19 losses ahead of the fight and Masoud was relieved to come through it with his record in tact.

"I was pleased that I did what I had to do and got the win," he said.

"But I was disappointed as I have high expectations of myself an I could have done better.

"I stunned him a few times but he didn't come to win.

"He didn't come to box, he came to survive.

"He didn't want to engage, he was stopping to grab.

"I was getting headbutted and elbowed, it was dirty.

"That was probably my worst performance but I still won every second of every single round."

Head coach Mo Fiaz added: "We're very pleased to get the win, Shabaz won all six rounds so we're over the moon.

"This opponent was very awkward, he didn't come to box.

"He was grabbing and playing dirty and just wanted to get Shabaz out of his rhythm.

"Shabaz wasn't at 100 per cent and still got the unanimous decision."

The win takes the super bantamweight to seven consecutive wins in his professional career and his second since signing for Frank Warren's Queensbury Promotions.

Hype is starting to build around the boxing talent and with his last two fights coming in just over a month, Fiaz says Masoud will be keen to get going again after a short break.

"We'll see what the manager says about the next move but we'll have some time off now and enjoy Christmas," he added.

"He likes it that way, to keep boxing every couple months and stay active."

Masoud added: "We're hopefully looking towards a fight in February now, building my name up and keep adding the wins."