WYCOMBE boxer Mark McCullough became a national champion on Saturday night when he beat Dean Mills at the Torquay Riviera Centre to take the British Masters title.

The 27-year-old won a bruising bout that went all ten rounds before eventually getting the verdict.

Coach Graham Stevenson said: "He's been in the gym every day for a month. He's worked so hard for this fight and certainly deserved it.

"Technically it was his best ever fight.

"He put him down for a count of eight in the first round and put him down again in the fourth round.

"We thought we'd got him then, but he [Mills] kept coming back. By the end it looked like he'd been in a car crash. He had a cut under each eye and his face was bruised, but Mark didn't have a mark on him."

It was the first time the 27-year-old McCullough had gone ten rounds, but the distance proved to be no trouble for him.

Stevenson said: "He'd only ever done sixes before this, but he lasted the ten rounds really well and could have done 12. He was hardly even blowing at the end of it."

McCullough will defend his title within three months, and Stevenson says they are looking to bring the fight to High Wycombe.

He said: "We're looking at defending it at the Handy Cross Sports Centre on a Saturday night. We're talking to them, it just depends how many people we could get there."