Tumi Phillips felt he was close to pulling off a stoppage victory that few have managed against tough Mexican Christian Lopez Flores.

Dangerous journeyman Flores boasted 12 KO wins of his own but in his 50 defeats he’d only been stopped five times, with European super featherweight champion Danny Quartermaine the only Englishman to do it.

Phillips had to settle for a points win over Flores, referee John Latham scoring it 60-55 in favour of the Walderslade boxer, who dominated the six-round super lightweight contest at the Brentwood Centre on Saturday.

“It was a good performance,” Phillips responded, after reflecting on the fight.

“I felt I was warming into it and it was a lot different from my debut.

“Obviously, you know what to expect with the stage, the bright lights, so I was a lot more settled. I think I picked my shots a lot better.

“He is very tough, and I think there's only one person from England that's ever stopped him, but I had him running for dear life, he was holding on.

“I think, with minor adjustments, the knockout was on the cards but it wasn't meant to be.

“All in all, everyone was happy. My coach was happy, my manager was happy and the people that come out to watch me were happy, so that's the main thing.”

Phillips, 24, beat Stefan Vincent on his professional debut back in September and felt this was a step up in opponent and performance - although he admits there was a moment where he got caught.

He said: “To be fair, he did catch me at the end of the second. I was like, ‘ah, okay’, I need to just do a bit more!

“He does have the 12 knockouts in his 14 wins but until you're in a position where maybe you feel the shock, that's when you kind of switch back on to reality.

“When you get in there, you don't really think about getting knocked out, or those sort of things. It was good to switch me back on early on!

“I think what we will see is, as I fight, I will look better and better. I think this performance was 10 times better than my debut and hopefully the next fight after this, I'll look 10 times better than last.”

Phillips expects to be back in the ring in February and then hopes to be involved in a potential outdoor event in his home town in the spring.