Manchester's Denton Vassell successfully defended his Commonwealth welterweight title for the second time, winning a unanimous decision over Australian-based Cameroonian Samuel Colomban at the Oldham Sports Center, Lancashire on Saturday night.  Going into this fight, Colomban was ranked third in the world at welterweight by the WBO, so the undefeated Vassell could now possibly gatecrash the world rankings on the back of his hard earned victory.

Something of a physical freak for a welterweight, the 5'10" Vassell packs a lot of muscle on his frame, giving him the appearance of a middleweight rather than a 147 pounder. Despite his size and physical strength, Vassell is not a big puncher, and has thus far won most of his fights off the back of his phenomenal physical fitness and work rate, and Saturday's performance was no different.

27-year-old Vassell won the first two rounds against Colomban, scoring steadily to the head and body. Vassell was deducted a point for a second low blow in the third, and 26 year old Colomban, the reigning WBO Oriental and African welterweight champion, opened a cut over Vassell's eye in the fourth. He had more success with some sharp boxing in the fifth, and for a brief moment there was the hint of an upset in the air. 

However, Vassell regained the initiative in the sixth round, and kept his pedal to the metal for the remainder of the fight, shading round after round by virtue of his superior work rate. Colomban won the final round, but by then Vassell was a mile in front, and was happy to coast to victory. The decision was unanimous, with judge Steve Gray scoring the bout 117-112, while Terry O'Connor and Dave Parris both scored the fight 116-112.

Vassell raised his record to 19-0 with 9 KOs, while Colomban slipped to 20-4 with 10 KOs.

Vassell is managed and promoted by British boxing great Ricky Hatton, who spoke after the fight of matching his charge with the newly crowned British welterweight champion Colin Lynes, who upset Lee Purdy for the title last week. Vassell holds a 2009 points win over Purdy, and would start as a favorite against 33-year-old Lynes, whose victory over Purdy despite being years past his prime emphasized the lack of depth in the British welterweight division beyond world-class campaigners like Kell Brook and Ricky Hatton's younger brother Matthew.

If Vassell has ambitions about joining Brook and Hatton, he must look to add more power to his punches. Saturday's victory marked Vassell's sixth points win in his last eight outings, against far from world-class opposition. If he can find a way of adding a knockout punch to his undoubted physical fitness and work rate, he could yet make an impact in the toughest division in all of boxing. If not, Vassell may find that winning Commonwealth and British titles will be his limit.