RYAN Aston's title dreams were dashed once more after he was knocked out against Craig Cunningham in Dudley.

A fight of the year contender on Saturday saw Cunningham retain his Midlands middleweight title in explosive fashion.

A blistering brawl ended with Aston knocked out in the sixth of 10 scheduled rounds after an exciting trade off between challenger and champion.

The two headlined promoter Paul ‘PJ’ Rowson’s ‘Resurgence’ show at Dudley Town Hall on Saturday night, with ‘Tank’ the hometown hero.

Brummie Cunningham, who lives in Oldbury, was putting the strap up-for-grabs for the first time and now plans to drop down to light middle.

He said: “It was such a tough fight, I thought it would be more cagey in the first couple of rounds but, from the off, we were both catching each other.

“Ryan is a warrior, he took some shots, the same as I did and it turned into a war where, fortunately, I was able to come out on top.

“He carried on coming right until the end and that made for a great, great fight. I was glad to be a part of it. Now I want to move onto bigger and better things.”

Aston was attempting to claim a bona-fide belt for the fourth time, in his third Midlands title shot. He first attempted to seize the area middleweight crown in 2012.

The two southpaws tried to outbox each other from the off, with Aston looking to work the body in the first round. It was a game of cat and mouse initially.

Cunningham, 28, landed a damaging blow in the second with a big right hand to the jaw, leaving Aston dazed for a spell.

The champion was cut by the right eyebrow from a clash of heads in the fourth, with swelling around the wound.

Aston, 25, was on top in the fifth as he measured his shots well, while looking for the left hook to the body. Cunningham, on the other hand, was looking to batter him into unconsciousness.

It came to pass in the sixth, when both went toe-to-toe and started throwing bombs. Their clash spilled into the ropes, where a booming left hook from Cunningham shattered Aston’s defences.

Badly shipping punches, he elected to try and stand his ground. Bleeding heavily from his nose, he staggered forward and fell flat on his face.

Referee for the night Kevin Parker waved him off on the floor. Retreating may have brought him some respite, as there was just two seconds left of the round.

A quarter of well-matched four round bouts supported the main event, all victories for the home corner apart from a draw for Tyler Denny.

A tough test at super middleweight awaited Rowley Regis’ Denny in Cristian Hoskin-Gomez, who topped the bill in a points loss to Aston at the same venue on December 5.

Denny, who drew with Simone Lucas that same night, boxed tentatively against a capable and never-stopped opponent. Aged just 20, the Devon-born Spaniard has already boxed 20 times.

His head movement was otherwise excellent, but Denny got caught with right hooks in the second and fourth rounds. Those eye catching shots had made it a 38-38 draw, Denny’s second in a row.

Netherton’s Les Byfield took on Joe Beeden. A war of attrition at lightweight followed, before Byfield stepped up the pace in the last two rounds to take the decision.

He had to match the skill, power and durability of his rival with a solid if unspectacular performance. A straight right from him in the fourth was the most telling bout of the fight.

Byfield has his hand raised by a 40-38 verdict, giving Beeden a share of the first two rounds. It was the 29-year-old’s fifth straight victory, after a debut points loss.

Boxing’s only professional poet, Matt Windle, opened the show with his first points shut out in his third professional contest as a flyweight.

The unbeaten Brummie scored a 40-35 landslide success over the game Gary Reeve, who was docked a point by Mr Parker for persistent holding. He bloodied Reeve’s nose in the first.

The last under-card bout before the top liner was another tasty flyweight tussle between Lichfield’s Brad Foster and Jordan Turner, from Nottinghamshire.

Foster, one of the youngest professionals in the country at 18, was seen as a scalp for Turner, who made no secret of the fact he was coming to win.

Foster lost a round in the first for the only time in his fourth outing, but he got on top from there. Turner had looked like a split lip and swelling by his right eye as he lost 39-37 on points.