AQIB Fiaz impressed on his Manchester Arena debut with a slick victory over the durable Dean Jones.

Oldham’s rising star won every one of the four rounds for a 40-36 verdict on John Latham’s card that saw him move to 5-0 as a professional.

The 20-year-old, currently campaigning at lightweight, dominated from the off and had Jones on the ropes for large parts of the contest.

But despite taking plenty of punishment the Telford man hung on to see the final bell, Fiaz largely happy with his night’s work despite missing out on a first knockout.

“I thought I was going to have six rounds and if I’d had that extra couple of rounds I think I would have got him out of there,” said the Jamie Moore-trained 20-year-old.

“I knew beforehand he’d only been stopped once.

“I could have got him out of there and when I was in there I felt I was on the way to doing so.

“I could just feel it coming and maybe I did look for it a little too much and that’s why it didn’t come.

“If I took my time a bit more and boxed behind the jab a bit more I could have maybe got him out of there.

“You could see towards the end he was clinging on. But it was a good learning fight and we go away and watch it back and keep developing.”

“I got very close to stopping him but not close enough.”

Fiaz was backed by a vocal fanbase on the night. 

"I was on early but a lot of them made it down," he said. 

"I've got one of the best fanbases around I think and it's getting bigger and bigger every fight. 

"There's more and more people coming along and thank you to all of them.

"There's a great community in Oldham and everyone gets behind me and backs me in any way they can.

"Not all of them can come but they back me in other ways and I can't thank them enough."