WANDERERS’ game at Peterborough may have been off but there was sporting action in the grounds of the University of Bolton Stadium on Saturday.

Some of Bolton’s rising boxing starts strutted their stuff in front of a healthy crowd as Kieran Farrell presented a 14-fight card in front of a watching Amir Khan.

Heaton’s Khaleel Majid delighted his 400 fans by making it six wins out of six out as a professional while Elite Boxing’s Greg McGuinness also triumphed in his second professional fight.

There were mixed fortunes for Alex Matvienko’s gym on the night though with Ashton-under-Lyne’s Jake Whittaker victorious but Bolton-based Irishman Liam Gaynor losing out.

For Majid, a 22-year-old who was a decorated amateur, it was about continuing his professional apprenticeship in what were less than ideal circumstances.

For that reason he was grateful to the fans who backed him to a four-round points win over Paul Scaife.

“I had about three different opponents and this one only confirmed on Tuesday,” Majid said.

“And with the coronavirus, I didn’t know whether I was boxing or not at one point, the show could have been off.

“I didn’t know whether to sell tickets or not because I didn’t know whether I was boxing. It’s one of them.

“I’ve been training for so long and I’ve had cancellations in the past and it just sets you back.

“This was good though. My supporters keep coming out in their numbers which I’m forever grateful for.

“I thought I was going to get him out of there but he just started hanging on when I thought I was going to stop him.”

McGuinness, a late starter at 28, built on a first-round knockout on his debut last December with a points win over durable Stockport fighter Jamie Quinn.

In one of the night’s early contests Elite stable-mate Gaynor lost over six rounds to Blackpool’s Ed Harrison in an action-packed contest which trainer Matvienko felt could have gone either way.

Whittaker however won every one of his four rounds against Karim Khan, moving like McGuinness to two wins out of two in the paid ranks.

“It wasn’t a bad night for us,” said Matvienko.

“I would have liked three wins out of three but that’s not a loss, that’s a learning curve for Liam.

“He’s only 22 and is getting better. It was probably the fight of the night and I thought he was unlucky, and wasn’t the only one.

“Jake did well against an unorthodox opponent, who could have made him look really poor.

“He didn’t get drawn into anything and kept his composure.

“And with Greg, Jamie Quinn is an experienced fighter and he came to win. But he felt the pressure and went into his shell a bit.

“Greg’s got a bit of an unorthodox style but we saw on his debut how exciting he is.”

Elsewhere on the card, Liverpool’s Sean Cairns stopped Lee Clayton in four rounds to win the Central Area bantamweight title.

Morecambe’s Reece MacMillan also won a five-round thriller against Manchester’s Chris Conwell.