WORCESTER super-middleweight boxer Harry Butler turned in a spirited display before slipping to a 40-35 defeat at the hands of young Colnbrook prospect Jamie Hearn at the York Hall, Bethnal Green.

The confident Hearn, urged on by a fair sized following, pressed forward from the opening bell but only made the breakthrough in the last couple of seconds of the round when a late flurry left Butler with a nasty cut to the left eyebrow.

The wound continued to bleed into the next round and Butler had to survive a close inspection by referee Lee Cook before being allowed to continue.

The injury to Butler's eye rules him out of a proposed bout at Rotherham's Magna Centre in nine days' time.