Appleyard vows to hit back after title shot defeat

And after the unanimous judges' verdict, he said "I did make it hard for myself."

The Bramley fighter only took the bout at three week's notice but put in a terrific effort against Dodd, in his own back yard at the Merseyside city's Echo Arena.

He started superbly, rattling Dodd with some punishing hits in the first round after quickly working out his range. At that stage, he looked completely in control and took the first three rounds to leave Dodd rattled.

But the Birkenhead mad worked his way back into the bout and began to turn the tables with some clever jabbing work, taking three of the next three with one level by the end of the seventh and then taking a lead with a strong eighth round, rattling the Rotherham man with more jabs, before going on to win.

Appleyard did put in a late flurry but had left himself too much to do.

The judges scored it 117-113, 116-112 and 117-112 in Dodd's favour, which did seem harsh, but Appleyard had no complaints afterwards.

He said: "I made it hard for myself. We had a game plan but he was very good at taking me to his own game plan so hats off to him because he's a tough bloke.

"I'd never done 12 rounds and I had only had three weeks' notice so I'll come again without a shadow of a doubt."

You can catch all the anyalysis from the Echo Arena in this week's Advertiser.