Lowestoft boxer Craig Poxton came up just short as he slipped to a narrow defeat in his Southern Area title clash against George Jupp at the York Hall in Bethnal Green.

The 26-year-old, who was looking for his eighth victory in a row, was leading in the early rounds but Jupp came on strong in the second half of the bout to take the title 97-95 on the judge's scorecard.

A disappointed Poxton felt the contest could have gone either way but admits he was always going to be up against it on Jupp's home patch.

'I thought I had done enough to nick it but at the end of the day I'm away from home,' said Poxton, who rose to prominence outside of East Anglia after his victory over former European title holder Esham Pickering earlier this year. 'It's not George's fault – he was involved in a great fight as well and it just went in his favour.

'He has won the Southern Area title so fair play to him. I thought I was in control in the early part of the fight and after the clash of heads I thought I was up on the scorecards, which made him have to chase it. But it went the distance and the judge gave it to him by two rounds.'

Poxton sustained a deep cut in the fifth round after a clash of heads but he insists it didn't affect his tactics in the second half of the fight.

'Nothing was going to stop me – I've sustained a lot of cuts before and it doesn't affect my boxing,' he said. 'As Ricky Hatton once said it's not a tickling contest so you're going to get hurt.'

Poxton admits he is still in the middle of a steep learning curve after just 11 professional bouts and will take a lot from competing at Southern Area title level.

'The rounds were very close but some of my punches were a little wild at times,' added Poxton, who trains with Matt Smith at the Ultimate Boxing Gym in Lowestoft. 'If a round is close and you are missing then they are likely to give the round to your opponent.

'That's the sort of thing that you learn from and something that I can take with me into future fights.'

Poxton insists he will be working hard to earn another title shot in the future and his appetite for boxing is as strong as ever despite defeat.

'I'm a little bit gutted but I'm only 11 fights into my career and it's my first 10-rounder,' he said. 'I've still got a lot to learn.

'Graham (Everett) is talking about me fighting in Norwich early next year and then I will take it from there. If I had been whitewashed then I would quetion where I was going to go. There was an argument that I should have won the fight and I think I've shown I belong at Championship level.'

Former Norwich City striker Leon McKenzie earned the fifth win of his career over Scott Douglas, winning 60-54 in the six-round contest.