LEE SELBY produced the most punch perfect display of his career to smash Evgeny Gradovich.

Selby didn’t so much win the IBF featherweight world as snatch it away from the man they dub the Mexican Russian, Selby utterly dazzling in his dominance as he won in the eighth round with Gradovich in no state to continue fighting after an accidental clash of heads, though Selby was miles clear on the scorecards.

He roared into control of the contest by winning the first three sessions by a distance, the relentless Russian unable to answer as Selby controlled off the back foot – just as he said he would – using overhand right hands and his jab to push Gradovich back.

The champion is a relentless front-foot fighter and Selby had an answer to everything thrown at him, his footwork and combinations dazzling as Gradovich looked more and more perplexed.

Selby’s entrance was earlier accompanied by a wall of noise, a noticeable number of fans hitting the arena just in time to see the Welsh Mayweather and supporting him with real vigour. It has taken a while, but Selby has emerged as a box office attraction, not just in Wales.

He wobbled his foe in the sixth with a booming right hand and cumulative damage was mounting as Selby was setting his feet and punching harder and harder, the Russian marking up ever more as the fight headed into the second half.

Selby controlled the seventh session and with the blood flowing and Gradovich being dominated again in the eighth and making the cut worse, the ringside doctor had seen enough.

The cut was deemed to be as a result of a clash of heads so we went to the scorecards, but there was no-one in the sold-out O2 Arena anticipating anything other than a wide victory for Selby as Michael Buffer got ready to do his thing.

And so it proved, two judges having him seven rounds up and the other awarding him a shut-out.

Selby fought magnificently and wasn’t to be denied, his post-fight proclamation that he’s “the king of the world,” utterly deserved.

Selby becomes Wales’ 12th world champion, the third Welshman to win the featherweight world title and the first world champion to fight out of Newport’s St Joseph’s gym.

Post fight, Selby dedicated his victory to his brother Michael, who died aged 23, seven years ago.

“I can’t explain how I feel,” said Selby.

“I have been working for this for so long. I started boxing 20 years ago and had my first amateur fight 18 years ago. It means so much and I would like to dedicate this to my brother Michael who is always looking over me.

"When my brother passed away in 2008 that was the point I turned my life around.

"I turned professional I used to be up to no good before that to be honest.

"If I could do that anybody can do it.

"Since I've turned professional I've just stayed at home, just being a family guy and it's paid off massively.

“When I go into a fight I go it to adapt.

“In for the first round I go behind the jab, see what they come with and I have that style where I can adapt.

“If I have to go forward I go forward or I can box on the back foot. I see what they come with, I listen to my corner and I box to my instructions.

“I caught him and I wobbled him. I didn’t bother following up, I was going to break him down.

“He is a similar fighter to my last opponent Joel Brunker so I was planning on breaking him down but we had two accidental clashes of heads and that stopped the fight.”

Blackwood's Craig Evans was defeated on points in his bid to become a British champion, beaten for the first time as a professional.

Evans, from Blackwood, produced a fight of the year contender against the naturally larger – and also undefeated – Scott Cardle.

Both fighters suffered nasty cuts to their eyes, but Evans paid the price for a slow start as Cardle maintained his dominance even when Evans started nicking the middle rounds and holding the centre ground in the ring.

The three judges all scored the contest 116-112 in favour of Cardle, which was arguably too wide a margin, observers such as former British champion Curtis Woodhouse believing Evans did enough to nick the result.

Cefn Fforest’s Nathan Cleverly was victorious on his light heavyweight comeback, needing just 20 seconds of the first round to stop Tomas Man.

Cleverly is targeting a return to the world title scene and enhanced his bid by securing a KO victory over Man with a wicked left hand to the body in a contest that did little to test the Maths graduate.

Cleverly is now set for a showdown with IBF world champion Juergen Braehmer in September, in Germany.