Hughie Fury survived a nasty cut on his left eyebrow to beat former world title challenger Mariusz Wach by an unanimous points decision in a dominant display.
Fury suffered the wound in the fourth round from an accidental clash of heads and fought most of the contest with the left side of his face covered in blood.
He showed great character to maintain control and not let the wound, which was reminiscent of the one he suffered in his points defeat to Kubrat Pulev in 2018, affect him.
Fury, 26, won 100-90 (twice) and 99-91 on the scorecards to record his second win since his third pro loss to Alexander Povetkin last year and continue his bid for another world title shot.
It was not pretty early on and Wach, who took Wladimir Klitschko the distance when he challenged for the world title in 2012, was happy to spoil.
The right was Fury’s best weapon and he landed an overhand in the second round and followed that up with more success in the third.
Fury, whose right knee was heavily strapped, hurt Wach at the start of the fourth with a spiteful right and the giant Pole proved his durability to shake it off.
Referee Bob Williams paused the fight in the fourth and sixth rounds while Fury’s wound was examined by the ringside doctor before the action continued.
The classy Traveller switched to southpaw in the seventh to protect his left eye and landed a left to underline his dominance.
He landed almost at will and it was an impressive display under testing circumstances from the former world title challenger.
Meanwhile Martin Bakole continued his climb up the heavyweight rankings with a unanimous points win over Sergey Kuzmin to claim the WBC International title.
Bakole, 27, won 98-92, 97-93, 96-94 on the scorecards to make it five straight wins since suffering his only pro loss to Michael Hunter in October 2018 and improve his record to 16-1.
The Billy Nelson-trained fighter, who was one of Anthony Joshua ’s sparring partners for Kubrat Pulev, boxed patiently behind his jab and kept Kuzmin out of range for most of the fight.
He restricted the Russian 2010 European amateur champion to isolated successes on the inside.
Bakole, who was born in the DR Congo and fights out of Airdrie, produced a controlled rather than thrilling display for the 1,000 socially-distanced fans inside The SSE Arena, Wembley.
