BOXING sensation Paul Butler stunned even his own club when he beat American Malcolm Franklin at York Hall.

He blitzed him 19-7 in Bethnal Green to kick start a great night for team Great Britain, who went on to win their match 9-2.

Butler’s win, which was announced before the start of Friday’s bumper Vauxhall Motors ABC fight card at the EPIC, took everyone by surprise.

It was expected that he may have met his match and would be going simply for experience but he turned expectation on its head, outclassing his opponent.

Butler is the form fighter at 48kg and if he continues to win he will put serious pressure on Darren Langley – the top-ranked fighter who currently receives ABA funding and is expected to represent Britain at the Olympics.

Langley has still not qualified for Beijing and Butler is keen to knock him from his perch.

“It was a brilliant result for Paul,’ said Motors secretary John Smurthwaite.

“None of us saw it coming. It gave a real boost to the lads fighting at the EPIC.”

Butler’s father, Paul Snr, put together the 15-bout card for the club.

It was missing the headline fight however as Nick MacDonald’s comeback fell at the first hurdle.

His opponent, Darren Curran, fought the week before and was badly beaten and unfit to fight on the night.

A list of potential opponents was put together last-minute but the fight fell through leaving Macdonald’s future uncertain.

The night did produce some good bouts however. Debutant Jamie Kelly was the pick of the bunch, tearing into Darryl Breslin of Egans Club with a bewildering array of punches, showing no sign of fatigue as he bombarded his opponent for three rounds, only suffering a nosebleed from a rare Breslin punch in reply.

Alex Hyland was on his way to an easy victory over Aled Thomas of Llangefni until a coughing fit in the third round forced the referee to stop the fight as he could not defend himself and gave the decision to Hyland.

Matty Carson slipped to a narrow defeat against Dean Inman of Furs.

Ryan Hill wore down Motors’ welterweight Alfie Duncan on his way to a three-round win.

Lightweight Carl McLeod lost a scrappy fight against Long Lane’s Gerard King while middleweight Kieran Hamza, who has just joined Motors, eased to victory over the tall Hussein Selmann of Golden Gloves.

Mark Phillips was the last Motors fighter in the ring but his middleweight bout against Welsh international Thomas Doran was bad-tempered and messy and despite knocking his opponent down, Phillips lost the match.

There are a limited number of tickets available for Motors’ Ricky Hatton evening in the Civic Hall in January.

The cost is £50 per ticket. To book contact Bernie Hart on 07806711192.