Carlisle Villa ABC continued to impress on the road as Mikey Burgess won on the High Fell ABC open show in Gateshead.

Burgess was the sole representative from the Villa on the 12-bout card on Friday evening where he was matched against local lad Josh Karaca in a senior contest which consisted of three, two-minute rounds.

The 21-year-old began the bout with a high tempo and immediately forced Karaca on to the back foot with some sharp two-punch and three-punch combinations. 

Indeed, Karaca was struggling to cope with the pressure and could only hold on to take in a much-needed rest.

Initially, he struggled to come back to Burgess with anything, however, he did land a sharp right hand, much to the delight of the crowd. 

But it came too little, too late for Karaca to influence the judges as Burgess took the first round.

Another bright start from Villa lad Burgess had Karaca heading towards the ropes once more as Burgess took control with a two-phase attack.

Karaca turned Burgess smartly after one assault and countered with a sharp one-two combination, but the Carlisle man took the shots well and returned to push forward, taking up a good position in the centre of the ring.

Burgess then finished the round well and landed some good, clean, shots to the head. The local lad took the shots well but all he could do to stop Burgess from scoring was to hold on until the bell sounded to signal the end of the second round. Burgess, though, remained on top.

Karaca came out for the third round, knowing he needed a stoppage to win the contest.

But all he could muster was a single one-two which Burgess took well before countering with a backhand hook.

And although Burgess’ work-rate had eased off in the final round, he was well ahead.

He saw out the bout without any further incident to take the victory by an unanimous decision.