Junaid Bostan feels the heat in winning American debut

The Eastwood fighter's first venture on the American boxing stage ended in a unanimous decision win over Gordie Russ, from Detroit.

All the judges in Bostan's contest generously plumped for the Brit after the eight-rounder – that's not something you see often in the US sport.

The voting went 79-73 by all three judges.

Yet it wasn't all plain sailing. In a messy third round with both over-emotional boxers taunting each other and getting caught with shots, Bostan ended the session having been tagged several times. His Steel City gym trainer Grant Smith decided a shock tactic was in order, hurling his boxer onto the corner stool and grabbing him forcibly."What are you doing...you are going to get knocked out," he yelled.

Smith had been concerned that Bostan's superior boxing skills would be submerged if the red-mist continued to come down over both fighters.

The coach's abrupt instructions quickly sank in and the Rotherham man re-set behind a healthy jab and fast-moving feet.

He finished the stronger, piling Russ into the ropes at the final bell.

The super welterweight will be happy to try his luck again over the pond after his victory in Glendale, Arizona. But next time he may need to manage the risks better. And he'd do well to get the crowd on his side – there were boos in round five when he hurled Russ to the canvas, and later when the judge's verdicts were announced.

It was the 21-year-old's eighth straight win and an important learning exercise, although the look on his marked-up face showed he wasn't entirely satisfied.

Russ certainly wasn't – there had been some bad blood between the two over the previous week and he wanted little to do with the end-of-bout narrative.

Bostan admitted: "That was me at my worst against him at his best. But in the worst performance I dug out a win. I am a tough kid."

Jed Cheema, England and Yorkshire boxing official, took the Facebook to say: "Wow! What a great fight in America for Junaid well done young man. That was a gritty skillful display and you showed that you have a great chin as well.!

"Junaid will no doubt be a champion sooner rather than later. He's come a long way since when I use to referee him early in his amateur days. He is in the hands of a great trainer."Another fan felt Bostan had "probably made it harder than it should have been with his excellent skill but if anything he proved there is nothing wrong with his heart and chin”.That was reflected by another fight spectator who posted that the fight "could have gone horribly wrong for him got caught was looking like he could have got stopped but he overcame adversity dug deep and showed he’s got a chin can get hit and come back and win."As Brendan Ingle always used to say if it was easy everybody would be doing it!"