Foster Jr defeated by Fegatilli

Fegatilli was too strong for Foster in Bolton

England’s Stephen Foster Jr was outpointed by Ermano Fegatilli in his first defence of the European super-featherweight title.

The judges returned scorecards of 114-110 and 114-109 twice in favour of the Belgian fighter.

Foster, 30, started well in Bolton but was knocked down five times before Fegatilli was awarded a unanimous win.

“I don’t want to make excuses but I got a virus on Monday and it did me in,” Foster told Sky Sports.

“I thought to myself, ‘yeah, I can do it, I’ve got a week to recover’. And with the training I did – I didn’t want to throw anything away, I just wanted to soldier on.”

The Salford fighter appeared to be in good shape for the first seven rounds, but the Englishman began to fade as Fegatilli took control, the Belgian landing damaging body blows with increasing frequency.

Fegatilli took the initiative in the ninth, forcing Foster to take an eight count, and the champion was dropped three times in the 10th as it became clear he was on the brink of relinquishing his belt.

Foster survived to the final bell but was well beaten in the end as he lost the belt he won with a stunning third-round stoppage of Levan Kirakosyan in October.