Nicki Smedley made a return to the ring for his first outing since March 2008 on this Dennis Hobson promotion which took place at the grand City Hall in the heart of Sheffield on Saturday night.

The 24-year-old looked comfortable beating Worcester’s Billy Smith over six one-sided rounds. Smedley, 11-0 going in, held his hands low throughout and looked sharp with a good left jab and quick reflexes. Smith was trying to get his looping hooks to hit the target but he was left hitting the air in the third and tumbled to the canvas as Smedley (10st 11lb 6oz) had quickly moved from his original position.

Smith (11st 4lb 2oz) picked up a slight nosebleed in the fourth, which was a result of Smedley’s continued accurate punches. The Sheffield welterweight looked relaxed as he landed a left hook the head and to the body of his battle-hardened opponent and danced out of range and he picked his punches in the final two, mixing shots to the body and bringing up the right uppercut, to take every round on referee Michael Alexander’s scorecard. Smith is now 12-79-1.