The English middleweight title remains vacant.

Their fight swung one way and the other and both men enjoyed moments of success over 10 give-and-take rounds. One judge saw Gordon winning 97-93, a second had Buttigieg ahead 96-94 and the deciding judge had the fight a 95-95 draw.

Buttigieg (12-0-1, 4 KOs) turned professional as a teenager and has been kept busy by Matchroom as he learns his trade.

The 21-year-old passed an acid test March 21, when he survived a late scare and came from behind to score a late stoppage of Jake Goodwin. On Saturday night, he got himself involved in another back-and-forth fight with Gordon (9-0-1, 1 KO) and had to settle for a draw.

This was by far the biggest fight of Gordon’s career. He got off to an active start, but Buttigieg isn’t shy about getting involved and as well as landing a long, snapping jab of his own, he quickly answered back whenever he could.

Buttigieg is enthusiastic and strong, but he makes mistakes and Gordon’s clever boxing and straight punches quickly got him a foothold in the fight.

Buttigieg is hard to discourage and he continued to press forward. Suddenly, he began to look like the bigger puncher of the two and found a home for his left hook in the fifth.

A relaxed Gordon found a little more space in the sixth and seventh, but Buttigieg’s activity and slightly heavier hands were taking their toll and Gordon began to slow down.

Gordon began to spend more and more time at the end of Buttigieg’s punches and the younger man took advantage in the eighth round. He landed a number of eye-catching shots and the left hook became an even bigger weapon.

Rather than accepting his fate, Gordon threw caution to the wind and dominated the second half of the round, as Buttigieg began to look disorganized. Buttigieg doesn’t seem willing to box to orders or slowing down the pace of a fight, and rather than staying out of harm’s way in the 10th and final round, he decided to stand and trade punches until the final bell.

Jimmy Sains had to dig deep, but the Essex middleweight showed previously unseen heart and smarts to outpoint Tom Cowling.

After 12 hard-fought rounds, Sains was awarded a wide unanimous decision and the Commonwealth title. But the scorecards – 119-109, 119-109 and 118-110 – don’t tell the full story of an extremely hard fight.

Sains (13-0, 10 KOs) was a five-time national amateur champion, yet his early career has been characterized by his power. As well as being able to get rid of his opponents quickly, the 25-year-old Sains has shown the very useful ability to hurt people late in fights.

He got straight down to work behind a busy jab, but Cowling (15-2, 4 KOs) ended the opening round with a couple of accurate counters and upped his own activity in the second as the fight quickly became a sharpshooting contest.

Sains was the more imaginative fighter of the two and he kept a high tempo. Cowling had the speed and technique to cause Sains problems, but he let too much time pass between his attacks.

In his last fight, Cowling showed his determination when he got up off the floor to outpoint the hard-hitting Aaron Bowen and that resilience began to come to the fore. He had a good fifth, as he caught Sains with a hard right hand, and things turned dramatically his way in the sixth.

Firstly, he scored with a nice lead left hook and then a left hook to the body badly hurt Sains, who backpedaled and held for the remainder of the round as Cowling tried desperately to capitalize.

For some reason, Cowling neglected the body in the seventh and Sains managed to navigate the round without absorbing much more damage. Thanks to some smart boxing, he also took the eighth as Cowling’s level of activity dropped.

Composure regained, Sains had the fight fully in control. Clearly still bothered by his body, he rationed his right hand and dominated the action behind his jab and lead left hook.

Aware that his man was on the verge of letting a career-changing win slip away, Cowling’s trainer, Carl Greaves, read his man the riot act before the final round. Although he landed a big right hand, Cowling just couldn’t match Sains’ work rate and the fight went to the scorecards.

Tiah Mai Ayton kickstarted the main card with a one-sided stoppage of Ellie Hellewell after six rounds.

Ayton (7-0, 6 KOs) has enjoyed a rapid rise. The 20-year-old featherweight from Bristol is already ranked at No. 3 by The Ring and multi-weight world champion Katie Taylor has earmarked her as a future star of the sport.

Hellewell (8-2-1, 1 KO) landed a couple of clean southpaw lefts in the opening round, but the aggressive, undeterred Ayton was able to walk directly into range and let her punches go in combination.

Lacking the power to keep Ayton off, Hellewell began to spend more and more time on the ropes and Ayton finally broke through in the fifth.

A big right hand rocked Hellewell’s head back and an accurate follow-up attack hurt her 26-year-old opponent. Although she kept herself safe in the sixth, Hellewell offered little offensively as Ayton continued to set the pace and she was pulled out atmthe end of the round.

Ayton won the Commonwealth title – the first belt of her career – and looks ready for more serious tests.

Connor Mitchell (4-0, 2 KOs) def. Caine Singh (4-10-2) by four-round decision (39-37) – junior lightweights

Louie Ward (3-0, 1 KO) def. Jon Martinez (16-13-5, 2 KOs) TKO 3 (2:36) – junior lightweights

Ioan Croft (7-0, 4 KOs) def. Tomos Reynoso (13-12-1, 3 KOs) TKO 6 (1:50) – middleweights

Harley Burrows (2-0, 1 KO) def. Carlos Ronner (7-13, 2 KOs) TKO 1 (1:05) – super middleweights