Arthur won the title less than a month ago

Alex Arthur made a successful first defence of his British super-featherweight title but was given a tougher than expected test by Carl Greaves at Newcastle's Telewest Arena.

The referee stopped the fight in the sixth round as it became clear that Greaves had nothing left to give.

But the Newark fighter had stayed with Arthur for the first three and a half rounds until the Scot stepped up a gear to quell his opponent's challenge.

Greaves emerged from that round with a heavily swollen left eye after a trademark Arthur jab and though he battled on, the referee deemed him unable to continue midway through the sixth round.

Arthur said he was not surprised by the stiff challenge posed by Greaves.

"You've got to expect a guy to come and fight for the British title," he said.

"I was slow to dismantle him but I was taking my time - I didn't want to come out and do anything stupid."