MANCHESTER, England — Throughout the buildup to his fight Saturday night with Harlem Eubank, Jack Catterall insisted that the fight offered him the perfect chance to reignite his career.

Catterall got back on track at AO Arena, but it didn’t come in the comprehensive manner he would have liked. The 32 year-old contender from Chorley was awarded a unanimous technical decision over the previously unbeaten Eubank after an accidental clash of heads brought a premature end to the welterweight fight after six scrappy rounds.

As the sixth round drew to a close, Eubank stepped in and met a solid Catterall. Their heads collided and both fighters emerged with cuts.

The gash over Eubank’s left eye was bad, but the cut over Catterall’s left eye was worse. Catterall’s blood spurted out over the canvas afte their heads clashed.

It initially looked like both fighters had survived inspections from the ringside doctor. Referee Bob Williams waved the action off before the seventh round began.

After some confusion, it was announced that the unintentional clash of heads meant that the fight would go to the scorecards.

All three judges scored the fight for Catterall. Marcus McDonnell had Catterall ahead, 69-65, and Steve Gray and John Latham both had Catterall ahead, 69-66.

Catterall, who lost back-to-back bouts before he beat Eubank, will now decide whether to continue campaigning in the welterweight division or if returning to junior welterweight makes better business sense.

Catterall worked long and hard to become a headline attraction and position himself for a shot at a junior welterweight world title. In February, though, he lost a WBO interim junior welterweight title fight to Arnold Barboza Jr. and saw his momentum grind to a halt.

Sharks quickly sense blood in the water and Catterall was targeted by Eubank (21-1, 9 KOs), a rising welterweight.

Rather than brushing aside a challenge from a fighter who had only recently begun to show signs that he could graduate beyond the domestic level, Catterall (31-2, 13 KOs) and his team decided that a step up in weight and the attention generated by Eubank’s famous surname would provide him with the ideal platform to reinvent himself.

Making his 147-pound debut, Catterall looked physically strong and solid and immediately claimed the centre of the ring. Eubank feinted and pawed with his lead hand, but he struggled to reach the defensively sound Catterall, who calmly swayed away from Eubank’s more frantic attacks.

Catterall began to give up ground in the second, stepping away from Eubank’s attacks and seemingly waiting for a perfect opportunity to counter. Neither fighter landed anything of note, but Catterall did plant his feet and land a solid left midway through the third round.

Eubank has been steadily improving and rather than cashing in on his family name and jumping at the first opportunity that came his way, he patiently waited for what he and his team felt was the right one.

Unfortunately for the 31 year-old from Brighton, he found Catterall a tricky problem to solve.

By the fourth round, Eubank already seemed more hesitant to commit to his attacks and moved left and right before darting in and out with quick raiding attacks. He did connect with a right hand and followed that up with a hard jab that snapped Catterall’s neck back. In a fight of so few clean punches, those rare successes were crucial.

Catterall began to impose himself in the fifth. He came close to landing with his left hand a couple of times and generally controlled the action as Eubank circled the ring.

Catterall seemed much more effective offensively when he took the initiative and got his attacks off first. He instigated a couple of hard exchanges in the sixth and began to hold his feet.

Once the sixth round ended, their cuts caused their fight to end abruptly.