The pair went toe-to-toe throughout these 10 two-minute rounds in what was the hardest fight of Hennessy’s career to date.

As such, Judge Alberto Diaz de la Prida was unable to split them, returning a 95-95 scorecard. But Christopher Fernandez (97-93) and Kieran McCann (96-94) both agreed that the Billion Dollar Baby had done enough to secure victory.

This clash was originally supposed to be the chief support at the Copper Box, with junior welterweight contender Adam Azim set to face Gustavo Daniel Lemos in the main event. But when both men suffered hand injuries during camp, that fight was pulled and Hennessy-Bouttell was elevated to main event in order to save this show, which was broadcast live on BBC Two.

Hennessy is seen as a future star of the Boxxer stable and enjoyed a showcase on Boxxer’s BBC show headlined by Jeamie TKV’s victory over Frazer Clarke at Derby’s Vaillant Live Arena in November. But this was seen as a significant step up against previously undefeated Bouttell, who is based in Shanghai, China, and this fight was also confirmed as a final eliminator for the WBC world bantamweight title. 

There was little to choose between the pair in a very close first round but there were alarm bells for Hennessy in the second, as a cut was opened up by an accidental clash of heads. Although it was not a punch that caused the cut, it was clear that Bouttell, the Cambridge University graduate, was beginning to close the gap and land her shots.

But Hennessy landed an inch-perfect reverse one-two midway through the third and then followed it up with a crisp left hook to the body. Her success, however, did little to slow down Bouttell. The fourth was a good one for Hennessy, who was having success with fast left hook, right hand combinations while Bouttell’s work was never as eye-catching as her opponent’s.

The two-minute rounds were being boxed at high pace, with lots of scrappy up-close work between the pair. This seemed to be suiting Bouttell, a former powerlifter, but Hennessy got back behind her jab and began to dictate the action in the sixth. There was still very little separating the pair and Bouttell was happy to stomp through whatever Hennessy was throwing in order to reach the target.

Having managed just one stoppage in her previous seven victories, Hennessy has shown an ability to go the distance but she had never been forced to fight at this pace and Bouttell showed few signs of slowing as they entered the championship rounds. The 29-year-old from Nottinghamshire even started to turn southpaw in order to give Hennessy a different look in the penultimate round. And there was no let-up in the final two minutes either, with both fighters happy to go toe-to-toe for the entirety of the round. According to Compubox, Hennessy landed 116 punches to Bouttell’s 114, which highlighted how close these 10 rounds were.

“I want to say massive respect to Ellie Bouttell, she gave me a great fight,” Hennessy said. “What a fight, great opponent, so much respect, it was an absolute war. I definitely felt I won the fight and all glory to God.”

Earlier, light-heavyweight prospect Gradus Kraus secured an eye-catching second round stoppage victory over Boris Crighton on his Boxxer debut - and did it all in southpaw.

The 24-year-old Dutchman, who signed terms with Ben Shalom’s company a few days before Christmas, is usually an orthodox boxer but decided to show his versatility by taking out Crighton behind a left-hand lead.

After ringwalking alongside his young daughter, Kraus wasted no time in getting down to business, dropping Crighton with 20 seconds left of the first round with a slashing left hook to the body. Crighton managed to clamber to his feet to beat the count and then held on for the remainder of the round.

Then Crighton hinted at an unlikely comeback early in the second, wobbling Kraus with a right hand as the fight began to catch fire. But it was Kraus who would force the next knockdown of the contest, with a quickfire combination sending Crighton crumbling to his knees. Up he climbed again, but he was down for a third time shortly afterwards, with another body shot doing the damage. This time, referee Amy Pu decided enough was enough, waving off the fight after 1:59 of the second.

According to Compubox, the Peter Fury trained Kraus (now 10-0, 9 KOs) landed 52 punches across those five minutes, and only one of them was a jab.

Promoter Ben Shalom said: “This is the most exciting talent in the whole division and what a division it is. He will box four times this year and it will be even harder to match Gradus now. We want him in the big fights. This is a future pay-per-view star, this was the start of something very special.”

Before that, Hassan Azim (9-0, 5 KOs) drew a line under a year out of the ring by stopping Irishman Sean Murray (3-4, 0 KOs) in the penultimate round of their six-threes clash. Azim, elder brother of Adam, suffered an injury affected 2025 but returned in style here.