In September of 2024, the 30-year-old Yorkshireman was drafted in to fight hot property Mark Chamberlain on the undercard of Daniel Dubois’ knockout of Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium. Unknown to many, Padley boxed brilliantly to upset the red hot, hyped Chamberlain.

Five months later, the former electrician was working on a solar panel installation when he was offered the chance to challenge WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson on just four days notice.

Padley put down his tools, leapt on a flight to Saudi Arabia and gave the pound-for-pound star nine solid rounds before being stopped.

On Saturday, injuries to WBC junior welterweight champion, Dalton Smith, and the postponement of Galal Yafai’s flyweight unification fight with Ricardo Sandoval led to Padley (19-1, 6 KO’s) being given the chance to headline his first major Matchroom show, And he and Aqib Fiaz (14-2, 2 KO’s) more than lived up to their high billing.

After 12 toe-to-toe rounds, Padley edged a close fight and retained his European junior lightweight title with a hard fought split decision at the Sheffield Arena. The scores were 115-113, 114-113 and 113-114.

Full of confidence, Padley got right onto the front foot and immediately targeted Fiaz’s body.

Fighting at 130 pounds for the first time in almost three years, Fiaz felt his way into the fight but began to relax and move forward in the second. His short, accurate counter punching brought some rewards, and he backed Padley up with a short body attack in the third.

During the build-up, Padley said that he felt he was levels above Fiaz but suddenly found himself in a hard fight. Determined to turn things back his way, he answered the bell for the fourth with a quick burst to head and body. But as an amateur Fiaz was known as an all action, aggressive fighter, and he happily held his feet and traded.

Battle lines were drawn and Fiaz seemed more at home with the intense action. Padley usually likes to press forward but found himself being pushed onto the back foot. Still, he answered with his own attacks whenever Fiaz stood in front of him and upped his output to take the sixth.

After fighting with his foot to the floor for five rounds, Fiaz inevitably started to slow and work in bursts, and Padley took advantage by maintaining a solid work rate, negating him up close and taking advantage every time Fiaz stood in front of him.

Fiaz picked up several warnings for low blows in the seventh and eighth as the tide turned in Padley’s favour.

Fiaz dragged himself back into the fight in the ninth as he bulled Padley back to the ropes. But showing a champion’s resolve, Padley swung things back his way early in the 10th when he seemed to hurt Fiaz with a body shot, and his steady, quality work took it’s toll on the Oldham man, who lost a crucial point for using his head in the eleventh.

Neither man had ever been the 12-round distance, but just when it seemed Padley was managing the championship rounds the better, Fiaz dug in and outworked the bloody champion in a hard fought final round.

Padley will now target a world title shot while Fiaz established himself as a genuine threat on the British 130-pound scene.

Ibraheem Sulaimaan eased to an impressive unanimous decision win over Ibrahim Nadeem in their English junior lightweight title fight at Sheffield Arena. Sulaimann dominated the 10-round fight from start to finish, and the scorecards reflected his superiority. Two of the judges saw him winning 100-90, while the third had him a comfortable 98-92 winner.

Known as "The Spider," Sulaimaan (11-0, 5 KO’s) is a rangy southpaw who has shown flashes of power during his career, and he found the mark with a crisp left hand in the opening minute of the fight. Nadeem (16-2, 2 KO’s) had his English title carried to the ring by International Boxing Hall of Famer Marco Antonio Barrera, who is in England to attend a tribute to the late Ricky Hatton, but the 27-year-old took some time to find his feet.

He inched forward in an attempt to take the initiative, but his lack of output played into Sulaimaan’s hands. The 25-year-old from Birmingham boxed, moved and attacked with perfectly timed and well placed left hands.

Slowly but surely, Nadeem began to close the distance, and Sulaimaan picked up some damage around his right eye. However, far too often the champion would get his feet into position but allow the quicksilver Sulaimaan to land an eye catching shot and escape.

Clearly feeling comfortable, Sulaimann changed little, and coasted to the finish line. He smartly circled the ring, making Nadeem pay for his lack of activity and scoring with clean counter punches when Nadeem did let his hands go.

It was an excellent showing from the Birmingham man in his first major test, and he looks more than ready to mix it with the top British junior lightweights.

Heavyweight prospect Leo Atang kickstarted another knockout streak by stopping Fouad Shaili inside a round.

The 19-year-old from York made short work of Shaili (5-5-2, 3 KO’s), who’s near-30-pound weight advantage counted for precious little.

After a quick fire start to his young career, Atang (7-0, 6 KO’s) got six valuable rounds under his belt last time out, but was back to his destructive best against the 40-year-old Frenchman.

After taking a few seconds to find the range with his right hand, Atang caught Shaili and, realizing he had little to fear, quickly cut loose with both hands.

He pinned Shaili on the ropes and hurt him with a right hand. His follow up attack wasn’t the cleanest, but although Shaili was upset about the referee jumping in to stop the fight, he can have no real complaints.

Atang will have learned little from the exercise but is still in the formative stages of his career. He has boxed seven times during his first 11 months as a professional. And after the fight, it was announced that he will make an American debut later this year.

BOWEN RIGHTS THE SHIP VS. COLEMAN In the opening bout of tonight’s main card, Coventry’s crowd pleasing middleweight Aaron Bowen got his career back on track with a ninth round stoppage of Troy Coleman. Bowen (8-1, 6 KO’s) was a talented amateur, but although he can be exciting, his determination to hurt his opponent has got him in trouble in the past, and he slipped to a shock decision defeat last time out.

Bowen was much more measured against Coleman (15-5-1, 7 KO’s) and used his jab and straight shots to control the action. Bowen will never be elusive, but he managed to avoid getting dragged into too many exchanges and had the best of the action when the two did trade punches.

He hurt Coleman badly with a right hand toward the end of the seventh round but managed to avoid wading in looking for a finish. He kept the pressure on, kept his shots straight and long, and forced referee Mark Lyson to step in and stop the action midway through the ninth.

Adam Maca (6-0, 5 KO’s) defeated Cesar Ignacio Paredes (18-35-1, 5 KO’s) by a decision in a six-round junior lightweight bout.

Ed Hardy (7-0, 3 KO’s) stopped Jesus Carrasco (2-5-2) in six rounds in a featherweight matchup.

Conor Mitchell (3-0, 2 KO’s) knocked out Rodrigo Areco (5-22-2) in the opening round of a junior lightweight fight. And Chris Mulunda (3-0) defeated Conor Goulding (6-13) by decision in a four-round middleweight bout.