GAVIN Gwynne came up short in his bid to take the British and Commonwealth lightweight titles off fellow Welshman and former St Joseph’s stablemate Joe Cordina at London’s O2 tonight.

Cardiff’s Cordina (10-0) secured a unanimous points victory (116-110, 116-110, 116-111) to defend his belts and take the next step towards higher honours.

Tony Borg-trained Gwynne (11-1) gave everything he had and can be proud of his effort, but it was Cordina’s cleaner shots that proved the difference in the end.

The contest became scrappy on several occasions and both men were deducted a point by referee John Latham for punching to the back of their opponent’s head.

Not since 1994, when Swansea’s Floyd Havard stopped Llanelli’s Neil Haddock, had two Welsh fighters fought for a British title.

In the Vasyl Lomachenko-Luke Campbell card, Gwynne and Cordina couldn’t have asked for a better stage in the UK to go toe-to-toe with each other.

Both went into the contest with unblemished professional records, Gwynne boasting a run of 11 consecutive victories to Cordina’s nine.

At 50-1 on with some bookmakers, Matchroom-promoted Cordina was seen as a clear favourite to defend his belts – you could get odds of 14-1 on a win for the challenger.