BEXLEYHEATH ace Patrick Fielder retained his Queensbury British welterweight title on Saturday.

He repelled the challenge of Ramsgate’s Anthony Hill during a gruelling encounter at the Effingham Park Hotel in West Sussex.

Headlining the league’s highly anticipated striking distance promotion and making the first defence of the title, the 30-year-old personal trainer was pushed all the way.

He needed to draw on all of his experience during the contest to see off the spirited assault from the challenger over five competitive rounds of boxing.

From the opening bell of the contest Fielder worked well behind his jab as he felt his opponent out looking for the openings to land his powerful combinations.

But the challenger was equal to the task and showed good movement and found his own success in a round that could have gone either way.

As the action continued throughout the next few rounds of the contest, both champion and challenger experienced success with Fielder working well behind his persistent jab as he constantly peppered the challenger face.

But there was also a clear argument for Hill winning the rounds as he continued to press forward, firing off some fast combinations which forced the champion onto the back foot.

The contest came to its conclusion and observers at ringside were divided as to whose hand would be raised when the verdict was read out.

As both boxers came to the centre of the ring to wait nervously for the verdict, as the score cards were calculated it was left to MC Grant Waterman to read out the verdict.

He declared Fielder as the champion after retaining his title by majority decision.

“That’s not exactly how I wanted it to go in there and to be honest I did not perform to my best ability, but it’s a win and I’m still the British champion,” said Fielder.

“Anthony was a clever operator and very awkward, but my game plan was to come into the fight and throw lots of punches in every round, and during my preparations for the fight things had gone really well.

“But the fights always different from the training and it just did not happen for some reason in the ring tonight.

“After that I’m going to take a short holiday and then I will be straight back in the gym and then we will see what the league has in store for me and decide when to defend the title.”

Fielder’s clash with Hill will be broadcast on May 25 at 10pm on British Eurosport.

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