SAM Eggington lost his European welterweight title with a points defeat against Mohamed Mimoune in Manchester.

The Savage never got to grips with the tricky French opponent and he failed to wear him down in the manner so typical of the gritty Stourbridge man.

The lively challenger chalked up the early rounds with sharp shots and good footwork to keep him away from the ropes.

Eggington, from Birmingham's Eastside gym, battled to wear down the southpaw but couldn't keep the pressure on heading into the latter rounds.

The push to make weight looked like it told and though one judge gave him the decision by four rounds, the other two found in favour of Mimoune by four and two rounds respectively to hand the Midlander a major set back.

Eggington admitted afterwards that a step up in weight could now be in the offing after the flat performance.

He said: "He definitely scored a few clean shots every round and other than that it was a bit messy with me coming in every round. I suppose you could see what he was doing more than I was. It's a fair decision.

"I'm not going to make any excuses. I think it's a good decision to go up a weight now. Yesterday was a struggle at the weigh-in.

"Hats off to Mimoune, he's slippery and tricky and did what he had to do and is a champion now.

"We'll sit back and think but it's back to the drawing board."