ST JOSEPH'S fighter Frankie Borg upset the party in Merthyr as he beat hometown hero Kerry Hope on points to retain his Welsh middleweight title.

The 33-year-old from Cardiff, who trains with Tony Borg at St Joes in Newport, edged out Merthyr’s former European light-middleweight champion Hope 97-95 to the annoyance of the home fans at the Merthyr Tydfil Leisure Centre.

Borg was on top for the first three rounds and it looked like he could be on for an early finish when he opened up a cut over Hope’s right eye in the third and the challenger wobbled badly under some heavy bombardment to the body.

Hope showed his experience to recover well, however, and a big right hook had Borg in trouble in the sixth round.

But Borg showed superb staying power and determination to hang on to his crown and claim the best victory of his 11-fight pro career.

It was a good night for St Joes as Robbie Turley won on his comeback after two years out of the ring.

The 25-year-old Cefn Fforest super-bantamweight was understandably a little rusty but did well to overcome tough South African Michael Ramabaletsa 59-57.

Swansea light-welterweight Chris Jenkins stopped Bulgarian Asan Yuseinov in the first round of their contest and Newport welterweight Adam Goldsmith beat Lewis Van Poetsch 39-38.