Reece Mould wants to defend WBA title at Doncaster Dome after Hamed Ghaz win

Mould, from Woodlands, beat Bradford’s Hamed Ghaz by unanimous decision at a sold-out Magna Centre in Rotherham on Friday to win the WBA belt and English lightweight title.

The 28-year-old, who challenged Leigh Wood for the British featherweight title in February 2021 in his only career defeat to date, had vowed to retire if he lost having seen his career stall in the two years since.

But the WBA crown will see him enter the sanctioning body’s world rankings and could be a useful bargaining chip for future fights.

"It’s taken just about two years to the day to get back to the point I was at before (the Wood loss),” said Mould.

"People are going to want to fight me now. I can really build off this win this year.

"I want to be out in the summer then towards the end of the year. I’d like to sell the Doncaster Dome out and defend my WBA title.”

Mould was cornered by head trainer Sean O’Hagan and his stablemate Maxi Hughes, the IBO lightweight champion from Rossington.

Another stablemate, two-time world champion Josh Warrington, was ringside.

On the fight, which was scored two rounds in his favour by two judges and three by the third, he said: “We needed to get off to a quick start with him to establish my power.

"We knew three or four rounds in it was going to be a long, hard night.

"I won the first few rounds which took a lot out of me, then we switched things up and he wasn’t able to adapt.”

While Mould’s career is now back on track, it might have been over had he suffered another setback.

But he insisted he was always confident the curtain wasn’t going to come down on his six years as a professional, which has seen him win 17 of his 18 fights.

He said: “Before the fight I said to my trainer ‘I feel very relaxed’. I do like pressure, even in the amateurs and against Leigh Wood some of my losses have been my best performances.

"I need to have a bit of a scare-factor in front of me.”